CA24152 - Epitranscriptomics and ncRNAs for climate-change-resilient and sustainable crops (EPICROPS)

This COST action aim is to boost the research in the fields of post-transcriptional regulation through epitranscriptomic modifications and actions of non-coding RNAs (long and microRNAs), both rising stars and very promising mechanisms in the context of crop responses and adaptation to climate change. The growing interest attracted by these two molecular mechanisms, so far under investigated, comes hand in hand with new methodological developments, including the introduction of new next-generation sequencing technologies, allowing their study in detail and in a high-throughput manner. This scenario brings new challenges and requires agreements and standardization regarding workflows, data analysis pipelines and management procedures, results interpretation and transference in the crop breeding sector that would be only possible in the frame of a topic-specific multidisciplinary network such as the one typically developed in a COST action. This action aims to bring together a cross-disciplinary group of people from all over the continent, including, among others, scientists from the fields of crop and plant sciences, molecular biology and epigenetics, agronomy, plant pathology, bioengineers, bioinformatics. In addition, the consortium is aiming at involving stakeholders, such as agronomists, breeders, biotech companies, growers and their associations, and policy makers in the agricultural sector.