PRIMER adopts a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to uncover how priming mechanisms enhance plant heat resilience, using tomato as a model crop. Our strategy integrates cutting-edge molecular research, high-resolution imaging, advanced computational modelling, and applied crop physiology. In parallel, we use information from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to dissect core regulatory mechanisms, providing a mechanistic foundation that informs our tomato-focused research. By combining these complementary perspectives, PRIMER moves from fundamental discovery to practical innovation.
Tomato serves as PRIMER’s main research model due to its economic importance, its susceptibility to heat stress, especially during reproductive development and its well-established use in stress-biology research. PRIMER’s work focuses particularly on meristematic and reproductive tissues, where heat stress has direct consequences for plant growth, fruit set, and yield. By developing priming strategies that enhance thermotolerance in these tissues, PRIMER aims to safeguard and improve tomato productivity under future climatic conditions.