The research groups led by Dr. Federico Valverde and Dr. José María Romero of the Institute of Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis, a joint center of the University of Seville and the CSIC, are working on the study of flowering control. The results of their research led to the approval and subsequent commercialization of the patent “Use of a nucleotide sequence that regulates the timing of flowering, plants that express it and method for producing them”. This patent has been licensed to Plant Bioscience Limited (PBL) and has been commercialized in the U.S.A. Recently an extension of the patent has been requested to the EU and associated countries, Canada, India and Mexico.
The researchers have managed to accelerate the flowering process of a superior plant by means of a gene from an algae, which opens up important expectations for improving the yield of crops of agri-food and industrial interest in the future.
The director of the General Greenhouse Research Service of the University of Seville, José María Romero, affirms that “this fact is important, since correct flowering is vital for the survival of the plant and influences the productivity of the crops”. On the other hand, he emphasizes that the novelty of the patent is that “it is the first time that an algae gene has been used to promote flowering, which offers enormous biotechnological possibilities”.
Within their studies related to flowering control, the groups of Drs. Valverde and Romero are working on the interaction between carbon metabolism and flowering induction, in an attempt to determine the elements involved in the coordination of flowering induction mediated by day length and plant metabolism. As a result of their studies, a product has been developed that, when applied to agricultural crops, increases and accelerates flowering, significantly increasing crop productivity. Romero and Valverde indicate that this research “has a very practical application since they are trying to optimize a product that increases plant vigor, accelerates the appearance of fruit, improves fruit quality and quantity, and is giving very good results in different horticultural crops”.
These studies are being carried out at the IBVF facilities and the Greenhouse Research Service (CITIUS) in the framework of projects financed with FEDER funds through the MICINN, the Andalusian Regional Government, the CSIC and the University of Seville itself, in collaboration with companies and farmers.
