- The genomes of three resurrection plant species, Haberlea rhodopensis, Xerophyta elegans and Xerophyta humilis, were de novo sequenced, assempled and anotated. Comparative genomics studies demonstrationg the common and specific features of these and other genomes, including desiccation sensitive plants, have been carried out.
- A group of seven large experiments with various conditions, resulting in more than a dozen of matched –omics datasets (transcriptomics, metabolomics and lipidomics) of the 4 studied resurrection species in the project, was carried out:
1) A detailed desiccation/rehydration curve for H. rhodopensis;
2) A desiccation curve experiment with adult X. elegans plants;
3) A desiccation/rehydration study with 14 sampling data points with X. elegans seedlings;
4) A similar experiment with 14 data points with X. schlechteri seedlings;
5) Perturbation of X. elegans seedling development with low and high PEG concentrations;
6) A comparison of X. elegans, X. schlechteri and X. humilis at the early and late stage (two-leaf) seedlings.
7) An experiment with H. rhodopensis treated with low temperatures (chilling, freezing), desiccation and their combinaions. In addition, the metobolomic footprints of H. rhodopensis subjected to darkness, desiccation and their combination was also studied.
- Based on the experiments mentioned above, a list of candidate genes for functional analysis from H. rhodopensis has been made and the work on the first of them initiated. Transcription factors suitable for functional analysis, since they were upregulated either during the early or late stages of dehydration in both X. elegans and X. schlectheri seedlings were, were identified.
- A study on the regulatory role of microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) for desiccation tolerance in X. humilis was also carried out.
- Apart from the resurrection species, experiments on nine crops have also been performed with the aim to study their stress resilience and methods for their yield improvement: tomato, pepper, eggplant, potato, lettuce, raspberry, barley, blueberry and onion. A molecular priming technology, based on the application of a natural seaweed-based biostimulant, to mitigate stress symtoms and increase the yield was shown effective in most of the cases.
- The desiccation tolerance of wild and culticvated barley seedlings was studied in a large population. The heritability, genomic predictability and metabolomic markers which are associated with recovery rate after dehydration in barley seedlings were characterized.
- A genome-scale metabolic network (GEM) model for X. elegans was generated.
- An ambitious comunication campaign was launched to communicate the project objectives, expected results and impact to various stakeholders. As a result, hundreds of thousands people were informed, especially due to open-air exhibitions in Plovdiv and the media (both printed and social) coverage.
- A total 9 online education events, which were made open to researchers from all over the world, were organized. In addition, a conference dedicated to the biology and significance of angiosperm resurrection plants was held in Bulgaria.
