Génomique et biotechnologie pour l’amélioration de l’utilisation de l’azote et de l’eau

Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, INRA, Route de Saint Cyr, Versailles 78026 Cedex, France

^* pelletie@versailles.inra.fr

Abstract

Water and nitrogen are essential factors for crop productivity and their availability for agriculture could be reduced because of foreseen demographic, economic and climatic evolutions. Plant breeding has the potential to increase crops’ nitrogen and water use efficiency in order to reduce their needs. Molecular markers linked to favourable genes derived from plant genomics programs can be used to combine them into cultivars through marker-assisted selection. The knowledge of the function of the genes makes the modification of their regulation possible through genetic engineering and theirintroduction by transgenesis in the plant genome in order to alleviate the effect of various stress. In this domain basic research on the molecular mechanisms involved and crop improvement efforts are progressing together. Some examples are presented illustrating strategies and outcomes for better use of water and nitrogen in model species (tobacco, Arabidopsis...) as well as in crops (rice, maize, rapeseed...).