EcoSeed, Impacts of Environmental Conditions on Seed Quality

Seed quality is of paramount importance to agriculture, food security and the conservation of wild species.Considerable economic losses result from sub-optimal seed performance, undermining food security andlivelihoods. Seed quality is strongly influenced by the environmental stresses experienced by the mother plant.Climate change will further exacerbate economic losses and decrease the predictability of seed yield and qualityfor the farmer. The looming challenges of climate change and food security require new knowledge of how stressimpacts on seed quality, as well as a re-appraisal of optimal storage conditions. EcoSeed addresses thesechallenges by bringing together a group of distinguished European experts in seed science and convergingsciences to characterise seed quality and resilience to perturbation. EcoSeed combines state-of the-art "omics",epigenetics, and post-"omics" approaches, such as nuclear and chromatin compaction, DNA repair, oxidativeand post-translational modifications to macromolecules, to define regulatory switchboards that underpin the seedphenotype. Special emphasis is placed on the stress signalling hub that determines seed fate from development,through storage, germination and seedling development, with a particular focus on seed after-ripening, vigour,viability and storability. Translation of new knowledge gained in model to crop and wild species is an integralfeature of EcoSeed project design, which will create a step-change in our understanding of the regulatoryswitchboards that determine seed fate. Novel markers for seed quality and new "omics" information generatedin this project will assist plant breeders, advise the seed trade and conservationists alike. In this way, EcoSeedwill not only be proactive in finding solutions to problems of ensuring seed quality and storability but also play aleading role in enabling associated industries to better capture current and emerging markets.