Annotation:
The project aims at combining experience, skills and advanced methodologies of five research teams in
order to accelerate scientific competitiveness of the Czech Republic in the filed of plant genomics. Since
modern biology is increasingly driven by technology, the project will greatly benefit by tight integration of
state-of-the-art methods and instruments provided by the participating teams. The proposed research will
bring new knowledge on the structure, evolution and function of complex plant genomes, mainly focusing on
(1) consequences of hybridization and polyploidization, (2) evolution and function of specialized chromoso-
mes, (3) role of repetitive sequences in shaping plant genomes and their compartments, (4) evolutionary
significance of epigenetic information, and (5) karyotype changes accompanying evolution and speciation.
Although the project has no ambitions of immediate application outputs, its results will provide a basis for
future applications of genomics tools in breeding improved cultivars of agricultural crops.
