Team 1

Team 1 gathers research skills on plants (physiology, ecophysiology, enzymology, genetics, phenotyping) which are available on the sites of the universities of Amiens, Liège and Lille as well as on the INRAE site of Estrées-Mons. The team is involved in two research areas:

• the understanding of mechanisms that determine plant tolerance to abiotic stress (temperature, water) and efficiency of mineral nutrient use (nitrogen, phosphorus) as well as their recycling by the plant (nitrogen)
• the genetic improvement of cultivated plants (miscanthus, peas) for the production of biomass, its valorization in bioeconomy and ecosystem services.

All the skills of the team allows for a cross-examination of biological research questions (understanding of physiological mechanisms as well as genetic determinants of phenology, resource acquisition and recycling, stress tolerance) with methodological questions, especially regarding the phenotyping instrumentation. The traits are studied at scales varying from gene to whole plant in its environment, where the plant is studied in a soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. The research questions of the two axes are addressed with particular attention to the role of the composition and structure of the plant cell-wall. Arabidopsis is taken into account as a plant model in order to study the biochemical characteristics of enzymes involved in the remodeling of plant cell-wall.