Team and Lab

The Cereal root Systems (CERES) research team brings together researchers, techniciens and PhD  students from the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and the University of Montpellier (UM2).

The CERES team aims at understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms controling root architecture in cereals using rice and pearl millet as experimental models. We also compare these mechanisms with those occuring in the model dicotyledonous plant Arabidopsis thaliana to understand the evolution of root system development in plants.

The CERES team main localisation is in Montpellier, UMR DIADE, where we have access to full facilities for plant and tissue culture and gene transfer (including containment class II greenhouses and phytotrons), real time PCR, molecular cloning, a complete Microscopy Unit (in situ hybridization, epifluorescence, confocal microscopy, biphotonic microscopy, real time microscopy, spectral microscopy and electronic microscopy), a genomics platform (sequencing, genotyping, RNAseq...), a bioinformatics platform and a Unit for Plant Computational Modelling.

The CERES team is also component of two International Joint Laboratories, one in Vietnam, LMI RICE, and one in Senegal, LMI LAPSE, where we are conducting our research with local researchers and students. In addition to basic lab facilities these places offer access to a large range of genetic ressources (rice, pearl millet), nethouse and field facilities for large scale plant phenotyping and genome wide association studies.

Moreover the CERES team works in relation with several groups in France and all over the world involved in research on root biology.