A method has been developed by metabolic engineering of glutamine for the creation of reversible male-sterility in plants to be used for F1-hybrid breeding. A gene called DCN1 has been characterized in tobacco that regulates developmental phase transitions, including totipotency, and that is involved in the neddylation of cullins, a component of ubiquitin E3 ligases. Together with Roberto Nitsch in Joseph Penninger’s lab we are investigating the role of mammalian DCN1 by reverse genetics. In collaboration with Fritz Kragler’s and Markus Teige’s group at MFPL a MAP kinase, AtMPK10, and a MAP kinase kinase, AtMKK2, have been identified that control flowering time, leaf size and leaf vein formation by interacting with polar auxin transport inhibitors. Since 2010 I am consultant for a project on “Doubled haploids in Cassava”, funded by the Bill-and-Melinda-Gates-Foundation.