Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
Volume 65, Issue 19, Pages 5683-5696Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/jxb/eru376
Keywords
Barley; Brachypodium; cell wall; genomics; nitrogen use efficiency; plant pathogens; roots; seeds; wheat
Categories
Funding
- Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
- LABEX Saclay Plant Sciences (SPS)
- French State grant [ANR-10-LABX-0040-SPS]
- French National Research Agency under the Investments for the Future program [ANR-11-IDEX-0003-02]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Brachypodium distachyon was proposed as a model species for genetics and molecular genomics in cereals less than 10 years ago. It is now established as a standard for research on C-3 cereals on a variety of topics, due to its close phylogenetic relationship with Triticeae crops such as wheat and barley, and to its simple genome, its minimal growth requirement, and its short life cycle. In this review, we first highlight the tools and resources for Brachypodium that are currently being developed and made available by the international community. We subsequently describe how this species has been used for comparative genomic studies together with cereal crops, before illustrating major research fields in which Brachypodium has been successfully used as a model: cell wall synthesis, plant-pathogen interactions, root architecture, and seed development. Finally, we discuss the usefulness of research on Brachypodium in order to improve nitrogen use efficiency in cereals, with the aim of reducing the amount of applied fertilizer while increasing the grain yield. Several paths are considered, namely an improvement of either nitrogen remobilization from the vegetative organs, nitrate uptake from the soil, or nitrate assimilation by the plant. Altogether, these examples position the research on Brachypodium as at an intermediate stage between basic research, carried out mainly in Arabidopsis, and applied research carried out on wheat and barley, enabling a complementarity of the studies and reciprocal benefits.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available