Helping crops

A Science-GROOT grant of 3 million euros has been awarded to a consortium led by Professor of Microbial interactions and diversity Jos Raaijmakers (IBL / NIOO), Professor of Molecular biotechnology Gilles van Wezel (IBL) and Professor of Plant-microbe interactions Corné Pieterse (UU), together with Professor of Ultrastructural biology Ariane Briegel (IBL), Marnix Medema (WUR) and Saskia van Wees (UU). The universities of Leiden, Wageningen and Utrecht each receive 1 million for collaboration on research into micro-organisms that live inside plant tissues and can help plants in stressful situations such as drought, diseases and insects. Knowledge about how the micro-organisms interact with plants opens up opportunities to increase crop production, even in adverse conditions. Considering climate change and population growth, this is of great importance for the global food supply.