As climate change brings more frequent heatwaves and droughts, scientists are looking for crops that can cope with tougher growing conditions. New research highlights camelina (Camelina sativa), a traditional oilseed crop used for food, animal feed, and biofuels, as a promising example of how plants can adapt – and how that knowledge could help future…
From 21 February to 1 March, AgroParisTech and its partner INRAE will showcase the use of camelina and several activities from the UNTWIST project at the Salon International de l’Agriculture in Paris. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore camelina as an intermediate summer crop, learn about ongoing breeding programs aimed at improving its adaptation to…
The UNTWIST Final Event, “Addressing the Crop Climate Change Challenge”, held on 15 January, featured research on crop responses to variable and extreme climates, followed by an expert roundtable on “The Future of Minor Crops in the Context of Climate Change”. Around 100 participants attended on site in Vienna or online. The first part highlighted…
Save the date for 15 January 2026 as the UNTWIST Final Event arrives in Vienna, with the added flexibility of joining online. This hybrid event will bring together researchers, farmers, industry experts, and policy makers to explore innovative solutions for agriculture in the face of climate change. Rising temperatures, increasing droughts, and unpredictable weather patterns…
We are excited to announce the public release of the Plant Adaptation Hub, one of the main outcomes of the UNTWIST project. This web-based platform is designed to support scientists, farmers, and the wider public in exploring, researching, and applying knowledge about Camelina sativa. The Hub brings together advanced tools, curated data, and interactive visualizations,…
We are thrilled to announce that the UNTWIST project has recently published a new research article titled: “Heat stress resistance in Camelina sativa: effects on morphology, physiology, yield, and seed quality.” This study, conducted in collaboration with the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Italy, and Rothamsted…
The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology team proudly presented the UNTWIST project at this year’s Research Festival Lower Austria, captivating audiences with an interactive hands-on station that brought plant science to life. The magnificent Palais Niederösterreich was buzzing with energy as more than 1,500 visitors explored the frontiers of science and innovation across over 80…
The UNTWIST project is proud to announce the publication of a new research article: “Consumer preferences for Camelina oil: impact of sensory perceptions and information disclosure on acceptance of an unfamiliar oil coming from a minor crop.” This study investigates how French consumers perceive camelina oil, a traditional but relatively unknown oil derived from a…
The UNTWIST project is proud to announce the publication of a new peer-reviewed scientific article titled “Assessing different physiological, seed yield and quality responses of camelina lines to drought”, authored by researchers including Barbara Alberghini, Miriana Vicino, Federica Zanetti, Andrea Monti, Walter Zegada-Lizarazu from the University of Bolonia (IT), and Susana Silvestre, Richard Haslam, from…
On May 9th, the UNTWIST project took part in a joint field event with the CARINA project at the experimental farm of the University of Bologna in Cadriano (BO), Italy. The event brought together approximately 30 participants, including farmers, seed company representatives, technical advisors, and researchers, fostering a dynamic environment for knowledge sharing and field-based…
The UNTWIST consortium recently gathered at Rothamsted Research (UK) for a two-day project meeting, bringing together all partners to review progress, strengthen collaboration, and align priorities for the final phase of this ambitious initiative. The meeting marked an important milestone as the project enters its final stretch. Partners shared updates on technical achievements, discussed next…
Lipids mitigate the impact of stress and are important for seed oil yield and quality. The effects of drought on camelina lipid metabolism were investigated in a controlled environment trial at the Bologna University experimental farm. Four camelina lines, selected from a larger collection based on their diverse response to drought stress, were investigated for…
Building upon the outcomes of the UNTWIST field trials as well as genomic and metabolomic analyses with 54 camelina genotypes, four focus lines were selected to be tested in a drought stress trial at the experimental farm of the University of Bologna (UNIBO). The trial was performed using lysimeters to allow precise control of soil…
The genomes of the UNTWIST focus lines have been sequenced using Oxford Nanopore long read sequencing technology. These new chromosome-scale genome assemblies are of reference-level quality. The genome size of the camelina lines range from 640 to 650 Mb. A comprehensive pipeline was used for genome annotation, integrating both ab-initio and evidence-based approaches, predicting 98,808 to 102,312…
UNTWIST has generated a wealth of data from the UNTWIST camelina diversity panel, which includes cultivars, breeding lines and landraces from different geographical regions. Genome sequencing of the 54 genotypes showed that the UNTWIST core collection represents the known genetic diversity of camelina. Field trials in Spain, Italy, France, and UK characterized the camelina diversity…
Camelina was tested in three years of field trials in Italy, Spain, France, and the UK in different cropping systems to test its integration into farmers’ current rotations. Based on the results of these trials, protocols were developed with recommendations for optimized and locally adapted cultivation practices. A protocol for introducing camelina into farmer´s…
UNTWIST partners attended the 2024 International Camelina Conference in Lincoln (Nebraska)! On 19th-20th July 2024, Claudia Jonak AIT and Bjorn Usadel FZJ presented project results, Richard Haslam Rothamsted Research and Federica Zanetti and Sara Berzuini from UNIBO were the event co-chairs. Closing talks on metabolism and lipids at #Camelina2024 from Jim Anderson (USDA), Claudia Jonak…
In June, the UNWTIST UK team presented the benefits of Camelina sativa at the Cereals Event 2024, a two-day field event for farmers and breeders. Over 17,500 visitors attended the event, where the crop plot exhibitors curated and displayed over 600 individual crop plots demonstrating a wide spread of popular and emerging plants. About 2,000 visitors…
An Open Day in Spain that brings the opportunity to explore synergies among other EU projects. On the 11th of April, our partner Camelina Company Spain held an open day at their innovation center in Daimiel, Ciudad Real, Spain, (CID). Around twenty people were present, half of them were farmers, also people from the cooperative Los Pozos…
This time we met in Jülich, our German partner hosted us for the project meeting. UNTWISTers “19 persons representing 8 entities from 6 EU countries” The UNTWIST team has spent three days of work where debate and agreements have been present during all the exchange sessions. The first day, untwisters got a working session…
In 2022 and 2023, UNIBO conducted a two-year field trial aimed at evaluating the response of the four focus lines of camelina, selected from the UNTWIST core collection to two sowing times. Small plots at the experimental farm of the University of Bologna (Italy) were sown both at optimal and stressful sowing times, corresponding respectively…
In October, the International Scientific Conference entitled “Crops for the future – breeding for resilience 2023”, was co-organised by ADAPT and UNTWIST in Ljubljana/Slovenia. Current developments in the breeding of stress-resistant crops were presented and discussed at the conference. Various topics were covered, from stress physiology and signaling, phenotyping and molecular adaptation mechanisms to modelling…
The UNTWIST project was present at the Lipidomystes days organized at Sorbonne University in Paris. This event was organized by the lipidomystes network which gather all the French expert in lipid analysis. Malo Le Boulch was invited to introduce the reconstruction of metabolic networks and a selection of tools for this purpose. Furthermore, a focus…
The UNTWIST project has received great response in the Austrian media. Several articles were published in newspapers (Der Standard, Kurier, Die Presse), for which the project coordinator Claudia Jonak gave interviews. In addition, an article about UNTWIST was published in Chemiereport, an Austrian magazine for business, technology, and research. UNTWIST articles UNTWIST was…
Tuesday, the 4th of July at 2:00 p.m., INRAE, Versailles This day provides an opportunity to present the European UNTWIST project, which aims to understand camelina’s tolerance mechanisms to water and heat stress while adapting it to different cropping modalities. It also provides an opportunity to visit trial plots and discuss the potential and challenges…
In the framework of Networking activities with other projects, UNTWIST has linked up with CARINA which it plans to carry out collaborative actions in the coming months, in particular the organization of meetings between both projects for results presentation and analysis of present and future collaboration. Both projects have established an interaction plan which includes…
All UNTWIST partners met in Bologna for the technical follow-up meeting and the field visit last May. During the first-day consortium meeting, the activities carried out by each of the partners were presented and the incipient results of the work carried out in each work package were shared. The action plan for the coming…
The second edition of the Cultiva conference last month in Sádaba brought together more than a thousand people linked to the agricultural sector, including producers, organizations, and companies. The event, organized this year by Cooperativa San José de Sádaba, Red ARAX, Cooperativas Agroalimentarias de Aragón, and the Centro de Transferencia Agroalimentaria del Gobierno de…
On the 1st of March 2023, a modelling workshop was held, jointly organised by the UNTWIST and the ADAPT projects and was a great opportunity to discuss the modelling approaches of the two projects that are funded under the topic “Looking behind plant adaptation (SFS-30-2019)”. Ideas and approaches were exchanged promoting knowledge and experience sharing…
In spring 2022, UNIBO set up a semi-controlled environment trial to test the response to the drought of the four Focus Lines selected from the UNTWIST core collection. UNT4, UNT18, UNT21, and UNT46 were sown in lysimeters located at the experimental farm of the University of Bologna, Italy. Each lysimeter contained 1 m3 of soil…
The four camelina focus lines selected from the UNTWIST core collection are now being analysed in open field conditions in France, Italy, Spain and the UK. In Spain, the focus lines are planted between November and December at the experimental farm Entresierras, in Ciudad Real. Various physiological parameters including SPAD, gas exchange and chlorophyll a…
The drought stress experiment with the four UNTWIST focus lines at the flowering stage, carried out by AIT at the novel high-throughput phenotyping platform PHENOPlant in Vienna. Based on a combined evaluation of the genetic diversity and field and glasshouse trials of the 54 UNTWIST core collection lines, four camelina focus lines were selected…
For more than 20 years, JOBIM has been the annual event that federates French bioinformatics. The 2022 edition was held on the Beaulieu Campus of the University of Rennes 1, from 5 to 8th July. Around 500 participants attended this edition. The organization of JOBIM was led by the Société Française de BioInformatique (SFBI), in…
The UNTWIST project took part in the London Science Museum Family Event Future Explorers in February 2022 aimed at children aged 7+. The aim of the event was to raise awareness to climate change and sustainability while exploring the cutting-edge STEM research currently taking place to help mitigate further changes and how will life…
A REPOSITORY FOR NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE HEAT AND DROUGHT STRESS TOLERANCE OF AN ANCIENT OILSEED. RESEARCH ON GOLD OF PLEASURE (Camelina sativa) Some plants are very sensitive to stresses, while others are hardy and continue to grow unperturbed when the field gets hotter or drier. The increasing stresses on agriculture from an accumulation of…
In Spain camelina’s sowings for the 2020-2021 campaign began in November and have lasted until Christmas. The rains prior to the beginning of sowing and the accumulation of humidity in the soil have favored the emergence of camelina in practically the entire country. Figure 1: Initial stages of the camelina. Photo Credit Camelina Company Now…
The integration of camelina as summer catch crop at INRAE France Versailles will give the possibility to analyse the field trials work of the camelina core collection during this spring/summer 2021, that has been the first step of the UNTWIST french partner research. The first results of the field trial harvest at Versailles after cutting…
In the frame of the UNTWIST the camelina field trial at Rothamsted was harvested in August 2021 with the help of the Rothamsted Farm Team and a small plot combine. Seed yield, oil content, and composition will now be analyzed in the 54 camelina varieties to assess the performance of this spring crop in the…
In the frame of UNTWIST project, we specifically dedicated efforts to joint networking activities with different projects financed to establish a fruitful collaboration and share expertise and knowledge on plant adaptation. UNTWIST would like to invite coordinators of other related projects to join the UNTWIST COMMUNITY as supporting experts. Your project will be portrayed…
Through our NEWSLETTER we want to tell you about the activities and findings that UNTWISTER’S Team is developping in the framework of the project. To do so, we plan to publish a regularly a Newsletter that compiles the progress and results of this exciting initiative. WE HAVE ALREADY PUBLISHED THE FIRST ONE!!! If you…
The UNTWIST Camelina core collection has been brought together from cultivars growing in diverse climates and geographic locations. It includes 31 different landraces, 20 lines sourced from breeding programmes and 3 commercial cultivars. The core collection incorporates a range of genetics, phenotypes, architecture and adaptive plasticity. This means the core collection is an excellent…
The UNTWIST project organised together with the ADAPT project a joint workshop on best practice of data sampling and management. Both EU projects, funded under the topic SFS-30-2019: Agri-Aqua Labs: Looking behind plant adaptation, are working with a collection of > 50 genotypes grown under different environmental conditions. The projects will thus generate large volumes…
UNTWIST will use the naturally resilient and European native oilseed crop camelina to unravel adaptation mechanisms to heat and drought stress, to develop predictive models, and to optimize agronomic management strategies. Photo credit : JD Faure (INRAE) The UNTWIST consortium has gathered a core collection of 54 camelina lines (from 11 countries) encompassing diverse…
UNTWIST project organized by video conference the 20th October 2020 a sample workshop coordinated by INRAe/AgroParisTech Versailles to discuss and provide consensus methods for camelina samples to be handled during the project. The sample workshop defined and agreed a uniform seed cleaning method for camelina comprising four steps. Several parameters for plant growth conditions in…
The Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG showcases UNTWIST as a best practice Horizon 2020 project in their #SuccessStory series (https://www.ffg.at/news/success-story-untwist-vom-leindotter-fuer-die-klimaresistenz-lernen) and highlighted UNTWIST during the Horizon Europe kick-off event “Research and development for a healthy planet” on 16th February 2021. In their commentary, the FFG emphasizes the integrative multi-disciplinary approach of UNTWIST bringing together eight…
Finca El Encín, Alcalá de Henares, Spain. last week. 54 camelina varieties will be tested in the semiarid climate of the Iberian Peninsula. @midra_i @CamelinaCompEsp
For the characterization of the camelina core collection under field conditions in @UNTWIST_H2020, 54 camelina lines have been sown in 4 replicates at the experimental farm of University of Bologna (Cadriano, Italy) #unibomagazine #unibologna
The 1st f2f interaction in @UNTWIST_H2020 held in Tulln, Austria. Claudia Jonak from @AT_Bioresources and @FPileidis of @RTDS_Group discussed the progress and management of @UNTWIST_H2020, respecting the hygiene measures due to the current status of Covid-19 in Austria.
Many thanks to all @UNTWIST_H2020 partners for the fruitful discussions during today’s workshop on the upcoming #UNTWIST experiments and the important planning of #Camelinasativa sampling.
