ANR

Morpholeaf

Participants : Christophe Godin, Maryam Aliee.

Funding: ANR (Contractor for Virtual Plants: Inria, From 2011 to 2014)

The goal of this project is to apply a systems biology approach combining biological investigation and modeling on leaf margin development to elucidate how gene networks and hormone signalling are translated into specific growth patterns and generate complex shapes. This project brings together three groups that have complementary expertises in biology, image analysis and modeling to provide new insights into the mechanisms of leaf margin development. We will specifically determine the dynamics of CUC/miR164A/auxin activities during leaf development and their interrelations, establish the contributions of cell proliferation and cell expansion to leaf serration and leaf shape and address the contribution of auxin and CUC2 to differential growth and hence to leaf serration and leaf shape.

Partners: RDP ENS-Lyon; INRA Versailles.

HydroRoot

Participants : Mikaël Lucas [IRD] , Christophe Pradal, Christophe Godin, Christophe Maurel [BPMP] .

Funding: ANR (Contractor for Virtual Plants: Cirad, From 2012 to 2014)

The HydroRoot project proposes a unique combination of approaches in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to enhance our fundamental knowledge of root water transport. Accurate biophysical measurements and mathematical modeling are used, in support of reverse and quantitative genetics approaches, to produce an integrated view of root hydraulics. The HydroRoot project will address as yet unknown facets of root water transport. It will lead to an integrated view of root hydraulics that considers both tissue hydraulics and root architecture and explains how these components are controlled at the molecular level by physiological and/or environmental cues. Because of its strong physiological and genetic background, this research may also directly impact on breeding programs, for production of crops with optimised water usage and stress responses.

Other national grants

OpenAlea 2.0

Participants : Julien Coste, Christophe Pradal, Christophe Godin, Didier Parigot [Inria, Zenith] .

Funding: Inria ADT (Contractors for Virtual Plants: Inria from 2012 to 2014)

The goal of this project is to develop an integrated multi-paradigm software environment for plant modeling. This environnement will allow the user to draw, model, program or combine models interactively. In a first step, the component architecture of OpenAlea1 .0 will be extended to dynamically add plugin application. In a second step, we move to a decentralized architecture, capable of distributing simulations in the cloud and share virtual experiments on the web. Finally, the modeling environment to be adapted to run in a web browser using HTML5 and WebGL technology

Partners: EPI Zenith

MARS-ALT

Participants : Guillaume Baty, Christophe Pradal, Christophe Godin.

Funding: Inria ADT (Contractors for Virtual Plants: Inria from 2012 to 2014)

The goal of this project is to integrate in a single software platform all the software tools and algorithms that have been developed in various projects about meristem modeling in our teams. More precisely, we aim at building 3D models of meristem development at cellular resolution based on images obtained with confocal or multiphoton microscopy. This set of components will be used by biologists and modelers making it possible to build such meristem structures, to explore and to program them. This platform is embedded in the OpenAlea framework and is based on the imaging components of the platform MedInria.

Partners: EPI Asclepios, RDP ENS-Lyon/INRA, PHIV CIRAD

Echap

Participants : Christophe Pradal, Christian Fournier, Corinne Robert [INRA, EGC] .

Funding: ONEMA (Contractor for Virtual Plants: INRA, From 2012 to 2014)

The objective of the ECHAP project is to reduce the frequency of treatments and the doses of pesticides applied on crops by taking advantage of natural mechanisms of disease escape related to crop architecture and by optimizing interception of pesticides by plant canopies. It focuses on the development of an integrative, yet modular, modeling tool on the OpenAlea plateform that couples wheat architectural development, the interception and fate of fungicides and the dynamics of a pathogen. Various scenarios combining climate x architecture x fungicide treatment will be simulated to identify and propose efficient strategies of pesticide applications.

Partners: UMR EGC (Paris-Grignon), UMR LEPSE (Montpellier), ARVALIS (Institut du végétal, France), ALTERRA (Research Institute for the Green World, The Nederlands) , ADAS Intitute (UK), CNRS, and IRSTEA .

Morphogenetics

Participants : Christophe Godin, Frédéric Boudon, Christophe Pradal, Etienne Farcot, Yann Guédon.

Funding: Inria Project Lab (From 2011 to 2015)

Morphogenetics is an Inria transversal project gathering 3 Inria teams and two Inra teams. It aimed at understanding how flower shape and architecture are controlled by genes during development. Using quantitative live-imaging analysis at cellular resolution we will determine how specific gene functions affect both growth patterns and the expression of other key regulators. The results generated from these experiments will be integrated in a specially designed database (3D Atlas) and used as direct input to new predictive computational models for morphogenesis and gene regulation. Model predictions will then be further tested through subsequent rounds of experimental perturbation and analysis. A particular emphasis will be put on the modeling of mechanics in tissues for which different approaches will be developed.

Partners: ENS-Lyon; Imagine Inria Team (Grenoble); Morpheme Inria Team (Sophia-Antipolis).

Rose

Participants : Christophe Godin, Frédéric Boudon, Christophe Pradal.

Funding: INRA - Projet de Pari Scientifique (From 2012 to 2014)

In this project we want to quantify and understand how sugars interfere with hormonal signals (auxin, cytokinins) to regulate lateral bud outgrowth of aerial stems of roses. Experiments will be made on Rose stems to test different levels of sugar conditions and hormonal concentrations on bud outgrowth. An extension of the recently published hormonal model of apical dominance will be made to take into account the role of carbon as a signaling molecule.

Partners: UMR SAGAH, Angers