DIADE Research Unit (DIversity – Adaptation – plant DEvelopment)
DIADE Research Unit (DIversity - Adaptation - plant DEvelopment)
The DIADE Research Unit (DIversity – Adaptation – plant DEvelopment) aims to understand the diversification of tropical plants, one of the main original reservoirs of biodiversity, and for which conservation, management and exploitation are an important issue for sustainable development
The main objectives of DIADE is to investigate the nature and role of structural and functional diversification mechanisms in the genome of tropical plants including rice, and adaptation to natural environmental variations or human-induced changes.
The research programs belong to the field of functional and evolutionary biology and relies to different approaches such as genetics, molecular biology, developmental biology and physiology.
DIADE work in collaboration with national and international institutes, especially in the frame of one joint international laboratorie – the LMI LAPSE in Senegal, and with the Agricultural Genetics Institute in Vietnam and through an active partnership with AfricaRice and CIAT (Colombia), CGIAR research centres.
DIADE in partnership with University of Montpellier, University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar and University of Science and Technology of Hanoi ensure a training mission in the field of tropical agriculture in southern countries, particularly West Africa, Southeast Asia and South America.
Three DIADE research teams are working on rice:
The work of the CEreal Roots Systems (CERES) research team focuses on root architecture and the physiological mechanisms governing root functions in rice, in relation with abiotic stresses.
This team aim to explore genetic diversity in Asian and African cultivated species to identify new genes of interest for the improvement of rice. DYNADYV researchers work on the pangenome concept and to the epigenic control of genome stability.
The research project of EDI aim to understand the regulatory mechanisms that govern inflorescence development in rice. More specifically, EDI investigate the relationship between regulatory gene networks and inflorescence biodiversity/evolution, in the context of domestication and natural process of speciation