ERA-PG explores the genomics of plants
12 May, 2008
ERA-PG, the European ERA-NET for plant genomics, is now looking to the future. “The goals set for the first stage of the ERA-NET projects, running to 2008, have largely been accomplished. Now, we’re discussing how to proceed after the ERA-NET scheme is completed,” says Senior Science Adviser Leila Häkkinen from the Academy of Finland.
Häkkinen is in charge of the team responsible for the coordination of ERA-NET projects at the Academy and is also the Academy’s representative on the ERA-PG Steering Committee. “Finnish plant genomics researchers had a very active role in the Academy becoming an ERA-PG partner and a contributing funding agency in 2004,” says Häkkinen.
The first call panned out
Sometime in the near future, European cooperation among researchers and funding agencies should automatic be to the degree that there will not be any need for separate ERA-NET projects. A more realistic, short-term goal could be to establish ERA-NET as a permanent instrument for the internationalisation of research programmes.
“Finland’s been one of the leading countries within the ERA-NET scheme. We’ve had a lot of practice collaborating within research programmes at the national level, with Tekes, and we’ve successfully made the move also to the European scale,” says Häkkinen.
The first ERA-PG call for proposals was in 2006, worth some 38 million euros. A fair number of Finnish researchers took part in the call. The second call ended at the beginning of April 2008 and the funding decisions are set to be made by the end of the year. “I’m confident that this second call will also attract many Finnish researchers.”
A need for cooperation
To date, the researchers’ experiences of the ERA-PG project have been very positive. The field of plant genomics has seen the emergence of a host of new researcher consortia.
Plant genomics research has been in definite need of European cooperation. “We want to develop the same kind of critical mass that the plant genomics field in the US has achieved. Plant genomics is entering into the sphere of interest of the industry sector as well.”
“Although plant genomics is by no means the same as genetic modification of plants, the subject is still a sensitive one in Europe – and political as well. There’s also a lot going on in plant genomics.”
Thale cress befitting as research object
Outi Savolainen, Professor of Genetics at the University of Oulu, and her research team participate in the ERA-PG research programme that started in 2007. “Our consortium has eight teams from six countries in Europe. We particularly focus on how natural selection has affected the genome of thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), the model organism for plant genetics research, and its close relatives. Thale cress, though not much more than a small weed, is well-suited as a research object for plant genomics, since its genome was the first plant genome to be fully sequenced.”
The consortium will have a large joint meeting this summer. “In a way, our team is quite exceptional: it includes not only molecular, developmental and evolutionary biologists, but also bioinformatics experts. Half of the researchers go back a long way. We also have a good chance of making significant scientific discoveries,” says Savolainen.
“At the moment we’re hard at work sequencing the genome of plant species related to thale cress. Evolutionary comparison between closely related species is a way to encourage new approaches.”
Text: Tiina Ruulio
More information:
ERA-NETs
Other interviews and news