Montpellier Scientific Community



Genetic Improvement and Plant Adaptation (AGAP)

Director: Jean-Christophe Glaszmann
Research area
This research unit carries out partnership programmes for varietal improvement and creation. Its scientific objective is to progress in several research areas relating to molecular and cellular biology, genetics, physiology, quantitative genetics and population genetics, taking into account different biological scales (from DNA to plant and population phenotypes, as development takes place, including metabolic pathways, biosynthetic chains, etc.) and different eco-geographic scales (varieties interacting with different environments) and spatio-temporal scales (evolution of species and domestication). Its operational objective is to develop materials that are better adapted in various reference production systems. These new and improved materials are aimed at combining level of tolerance to abiotic stresses (water, saline) and the nutritional, organoleptic and technological qualities of fresh and/or processed products.
Research highlights

Each of its 14 research teams is working on a specific topic:
  1. Varietal genetics and innovation;
  2. Genetics and improvement of perennial species;
  3. Architecture and functioning of fruit-bearing species;
  4. Diversity and adaptation of the vine and Mediterranean species;
  5. Development of wheat seeds;
  6. Structure and development of genomes;
  7. Improvement of micro-propagation plants;
  8. Virtual plants;
  9. Adaptive growth of rice;
  10. Phenotypical plasticity and adaptation of cultivated monocotyledons;
  11. Genome and selection;
  12. Cellular and molecular biology of the response to stress of tropical perennials;
  13. Data integration;
  14. Assessment, management and development of genetic resources.
Staff profile

Research Org.

ResearchersProfessorsResearch Eng.Techn. & admin. staffPhD
MTP SUPAGRO, CIRAD, INRA

137

12

7

142
31
Platforms and other tools

Some of the platforms it manages include, among others, REFUGE (RicE FUnctional GEnomics platform), Greater Regional Genotyping Platform, and the Montpellier Plant Biological Resource Centre. It is also involved in Arcad (Agropolis Research Centre for Crop Conservation, Adaptation and Diversity.
Representative publications
1. Garsmeur O, Charron C, Bocs S, Jouffe V, Samain S, Couloux A, Droc G, Zini C, Glaszmann JC, Van Sluys MA, D'Hont A, 2010. High homologous gene conservation despite extreme autopolyploid redundancy in sugarcane. New Phytologist doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03497.x
2. Varshney RK, Glaszmann JC, Leung H, Ribaut JM 2010. More genomic resources for less-studied crops. Trends in Biotechnology 28: 452-460.
3. Katarzyna Heller-Uszynska K., Uszynski G., Huttner E., Evers M., Carlig J., Caig V., Aitken K., Jackson P., Piperidis G., Cox M., Gilmour R., D'Hont A., Butterfield M., Glaszmann J.C., Kilian A. 2010. Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) effectively reveals DNA polymorphism in a large and complex genome of sugarcane. Molecular Breeding DOI: 10.1007/s11032-010-9460-y
4. de Alencar Figueiredo L., Sine B., Chantereau J., Mestres C., Fliedel G., Rami J.F., Glaszmann J.C., Deu M., Courtois B. 2010. Variability of grain quality in sorghum: association with polymorphism in Sh2, Bt2, SssI, Ae1, Wx and O2Theoretical and Applied GeneticsDOI: 10.1007/s00122-010-1380-z
5. Philippe R., Courtois B., McNally K.L., Mournet P., El-Malki R., Le Paslier M.C., Fabre D., Billot C., Brunel D., Glaszmann J.C., This D., 2010. Structure, allelic diversity and selection of Asr genes, candidate for drought tolerance, in Oryza sativa L. and wild relatives. Theoretical Applied Genetics, 121(4):769-787.
6. Hippolyte I.., Bakry F., Seguin M., Gardes L., Rivallan R., Risterucci A.M., Jenny C., Perrier X., Carreel F., Argout X., Piffanelli P., Khan I., Miller R.N.G., Pappas G.J.., Mbeguie-A-Mbeguie D., Matsumoto T., De Bernardinis V., Huttner E., Kilian A., Baurens F.C., D'Hont A., Cote F., Courtois B., Glaszmann J.C. 2010. A saturated SSR/DArT linkage map of Musa acuminata addressing genome rearrangements among bananas. BMC Plant Biology 2010, Apr 13;10:65
7. Glaszmann, J.C., Kilian B., Upadhyaya H.D., Varshney R.K. 2010. Accessing genetic diversity for crop improvement. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 13:1-7.
8. Risterucci A.M., Hippolyte I., Perrier X., Xia L., Caig V., Evers M., Huttner E., Kilian A., Glaszmann J.C., 2009. Development and assessment of diversity arrays technology (DArT) for high-throughput DNA analyses in Musa. Theoretical and Applied Genetics,119: 1093-1103.
9. Foncéka D., Hodo-Abalo T., Rivallan R., Faye I., Ndoye Sall M., Ndoye O., Favero A.P., Bertioli D.J., Glaszmann J.C., Courtois B., Rami J.F., 2009. Genetic mapping of wild introgressions into cultivated peanut: a way toward enlarging the genetic basis of a recent allotetraploid. BMC Plant Biology 2009, 9:103
10. Cochard B., Adon B., Rekima S., Billotte N., Desmier de Chenon R., Koutou A., Nouy B., Omore A., Purba A.R., Glaszmann J.C., Noyer J.L., 2009. Geographic and genetic structure of African oil palm diversity suggests new approaches to breeding. Tree Genetics and Genomes. 5: 1093-1103.
11. de Alencar Figueiredo L.F., Calatayud C., Dupuits C., Billot C., Rami J-F., Brunel D., Perrier X., Courtois B., Deu M., Glaszmann J.C. 2008. Phylogeographic evidence of crop neo-diversity in sorghum. Genetics, 179:997-1008.
12. Lecunff L., Garsmeur O., Raboin L.M., Pauquet J., Telismart H., Atthiapan S., Grivet L., Philippe R., Begum D., Deu M., Costet L., Wing R., Glaszmann J.C., D'Hont A., 2008. Diploid/polyploid syntenic shuttle mapping and haplotype-specific chromosome walking toward a rust resistance gene (Bru1) in highly ployploid sugarcane (2n=12x=115). Genetics 180, 649-660.
13. Lescot M., Piffanelli P., Ciampi A.Y., Ruiz M., Blanc G., Leebens-Mack J., da Silva F.R., Santos C.M.R., D'Hont A., Garsmeur O., Vilarinhos AD., Kanamori H., Matsumoto T., Ronning CM., Cheung F., Haas BJ., Althoff R., Arbogast T., Hine E., Pappas G.J., Sasaki T., Souza M.T., Miller R.N. G.., Glaszmann J.C., Town CD. 2008. Insights into the Musa genome: syntenic relationships to rice and between Musa species. BMC Genomics, 9:58.
14. Raboin L.M., Pauquet J., Butterfield M., D'Hont A., Glaszmann J.C. 2008. Analysis of genome-wide linkage disequilibrium in the highly polyploid sugarcane. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 116 (5): 701-714.
15. Jannoo N., Chantret N., Garsmeur O., Glaszmann J.C., Arruda P., D'Hont A. 2007. Orthologous comparison in a gene-rich region among grasses reveals stability in the sugarcane polyploid genome. Plant Journal, 50 (4): 574-585.
16. Marcano M., Pugh T., Cros E., Morales S., Portillo E., Courtois B., Glaszmann J.C., Engels J.M.M., Phillips W., Astorga C., Risterucci A., Fouet O., Gonzalez V., Rosenberg K., Vallat I., Dagert M., Lanaud C. 2007. Adding value to cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) germplasm information with domestication history and admixture mapping. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 114 (5): 877-884.
17. Ming, R., Moore P. H., Wu K. K., D'Hont A., Glaszmann J. C., Tew T. L., Mirkov T. E., da Silva J., Jifon Rai J., M., Schnell R. J., Brumbley S. M., Lakshmanan P., Comstock J. C., Paterson A. H.. 2006. Sugarcane improvement through breeding and biotechnology. Plant Breeding Reviews 27: 15-118.
18. Sallaud C., Gay C., Larmande P., Bes M., Piffanelli P., Piegu B., Droc G., Regad F., Bourgeois E., Meynard D., Périn C., Sabau X., Ghesquière A., Glaszmann J.C., Delseny M., Guiderdoni E. 2004. High throughput T-DNA insertion mutagenesis in rice : A first step towards in silico reverse genetics. Plant Journal, 39 (3): 450-464.
19. Dufour P., Deu M., Grivet L., D'Hont A., Paulet F., Bouet A., Lanaud C., Glaszmann J.C., Hamon P. 1997. Construction of a composite sorghum map and comparison with sugarcane, a related complex polyploid. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, (3-4): 409-418.
20. D'Hont A., Grivet L., Feldmann P., Rao S., Berding N., Glaszmann J.C. 1996. Characterisation of the double genome structure of modern sugarcane cultivars (Saccharum spp.) by molecular cytogenetics. Molecular and General Genetics, 250: 405-413.
21. Grivet L., D'Hont A., Roques D., Feldmann P., Lanaud C., Glaszmann J.C. 1996. RFLP mapping in cultivated sugarcane (Saccharum spp.): genome organization in a highly polyploid and aneuploid interspecific hybrid. Genetics, 142: 987-1000.
22. Glaszmann J.C. 1987. Isozymes and classification of Asian rice varieties. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 74: 21-30.
Total Annual Budget
(In Euros) 2008
Total annual budget 14 395 232
External contracts:
ANR 673 000
EU 1 622 000
Private sector 3 578 000
Others