Centre of Plant Structural & Functional Genomics

Our research unveils the organization of genetic information of plants and explains how it controls plant growth and development. Our teams collaborate with colleagues across the world. We have participated in the ambitious projects that delivered genome sequences of important crops including barley and wheat.

News

more news
New publication: A chromosome-scale genome assembly of . . .
Annotation:  Wild crop relatives are valuable genetic resources for improving stress adaptation in cultivated species. Their usage is expanding with the availability of reference genomes. We assembled a chromosome-scale, annotated reference genome of Hordeum erectifolium, a wild relative of barley, adapted to drought and saline soils, making it an excellent species for stress-adaptation research. Comparative morphological and genomic analyses . . .
New publication: Introgression of a Terminal Segment . . .
Climate change is making droughts more frequent and severe, threatening food and energy security worldwide. Collaborative initiatives of breeders and researchers aims to develop new grass varieties that can survive these harsh conditions, and one promising approach combines genes from two related grass species. We tested a new cultivar called "AberRoot" that blends traits from perennial ryegrass and a drought-tolerant fescue, finding that plants . . .
New publication: Introgression of barley chromosome . . .
Annotation:  Cultivated Triticeae species, such as barley, can be used to improve bread wheat. The previously developed Asakaze–Manas addition lines, despite low fertility and unstable inheritance, serve as bridge materials for introducing barley chromatin into wheat. Using centric breakage–fusion and the gametocidal effect of Aegilops cylindrica chromosome 2C, stable translocation genotypes were developed from 4H and 6H addition lines . . .

Events

Seminar of Jim Whelan
Date:
25.6.2026 at 9:30
Place:
ÚEB, Šlechtitelů 31, Olomouc
Theme: Single nucleus and spatial RNA-Seq to obtain a cellular view of plant development and stress responses
Seminar of Laura Dixon
Date:
25.6.2026 at 10:35
Place:
ÚEB, Šlechtitelů 31, Olomouc
Theme: Exploring how to develop genetically new growth habit types in bread wheat for increased planting flexibility 
Seminar of Martin Mascher
Date:
25.6.2026 at 8:45
Place:
ÚEB, Šlechtitelů 31, Olomouc
Theme: From evolution to breeding: genetic diversity in barley and its wild relatives
Seminar of Luke Dunning
Date:
21.5.2026 at 13:00
Place:
ÚEB, Šlechtitelů 31, Olomouc
Theme: Plagiarism in the poaceae : the role of lateral gene transfer in grass evolution

Our Activities

The Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech . . .
The Centre of Plant Structural and Functional Genomics is one of the organizational units of the Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The Institute of was founded in 1962. Today, it has 14 laboratories located in Prague and Olomouc. The institute conducts fundamental research in plant genetics, physiology, phytopathology and biotechnology. The research in plant genetics focuses on plant genome organization, evolution and . . .
The Application Laboratory for Agricultural Research
The Application Laboratory for Agricultural Research is the first laboratory at the Czech Academy of Sciences to link scientists with breeders and farmers. It was established under the Food for Future Program of the Strategy AV21 in February 2017 and is located at the Centre of Plant Structural and Functional Genomics of the Institute of Experimental Botany in Olomouc. The main objective of the Laboratory is to facilitate the . . .
Sustainable food production and consumption of . . .
The Strategy of the Czech Academy of Sciences responds to current social challenges through a sophisticated formulation of research programmes, based on cooperation of scientific fields and institutions. The research programmes of the CAS are open to partners from universities, corporations, and institutions of regional administration, as well as foreign research groups and organisations. The research programmes are proposed and formulated in discussion . . .