Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Flowering is a key component of plant adaptation, affecting geographical distribution and suitability for farming practices. It is highly relevant to yield, quality and environmental considerations as flowering at the appropriate time ensures best use of the available growing season, promoting sustainability and reducing the need for inputs. The genus Brassica includes species with many morphological forms that are cultivated for use as vegetables, oils, fodder and condiments, and much of this morphological diversity can be attributed to variation in flowering time. Biennial cultivars require a period of cold treatment (vernalization) to induce flowering. This flowering behaviour is critical for the production of some vegetable forms and for adaptation to certain agricultural practices, such as planting of overwintering cauliflower varieties. Annual Brassica cultivars do not require cold treatment to flower, although some annuals can respond to vernalization by flowering earlier and more uniformly. How different varieties respond to vernalization has a big effect on when and how they mature. Many vegetables are harvested and eaten at the vegetative stage, prior to flowering. Successfully predicting the timing and length of the vegetative phase has a big influence on the quality and commercial return from the crop. For other vegetables it is the timing of the floral transition that is critical. In this project we will identify genes which can exert greater or lesser control on the vernalization process with the aim of using this information to produce parent lines and hybrids which have a more predictable harvest period. We will relate variation at these loci to performance under present and historical weather patterns to associate specific allelic combinations with maturity under different climatic conditions. Knowledge of key Brassica vernalization genes and how they vary in different vegetable Brassicas will allow us to address key questions about the impact of climate patterns on the availability of UK-produced quality Brassica vegetables.

The genetic material in each cell is packaged and organized by an extremely complex, heterogeneous structure, called chromatin. The basic building block of this structure is called the nucleosome, a molecular protein spool around which DNA winds in almost two turns. Nucleosomes are modified and interact with other proteins to create chromatin structures that shut down genes or allow access to the machinery that read out the information from genes. We will study how nucleosome remodelling and modification enzymes interact to assemble a specific chromatin structure to shut down genes and to stabilise the genome. This research has implications for our understanding of normal development, but also for cancer and fertility.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.