| Project Detail |
Metabolite-controlled signalling for better plant nutrition Environmental stresses can trigger changes in plant metabolism, altering the carbon/nitrogen balance to enhance tolerance and overgrowth. However, our understanding of the specific metabolic and genetic components that regulate nutritional status is still limited. With the support of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MetaboSignal project will uncover new signalling mechanisms that control nutrient balance under C/N stress conditions. Specifically, it will combine molecular genetics and biological chemistry to identify how intermediate metabolites from carbon and nitrogen metabolism regulate nutritional sensing and balance. It will use innovative techniques such as chemical distribution mapping, proteomics, transcriptomic analyses, and gene functional characterisation to discover new metabolite-controlled signalling pathways that could improve plant nutrition and crop yield. Environmental stresses trigger metabolic changes that alter the internal carbon/nitrogen (C/N) balance in plants to promote tolerance at the expense of growth. However, the metabolic and genetic components involved in the precise coordination of the nutritional status remain largely unknown. MetaboSignals aim is elucidating novel signalling mechanisms governing nutrient balance by using C/N stress conditions as a proxy. This 3-year project proposes the integration of molecular genetics and biological chemistry disciplines to identify signalling functions of intermediate metabolites derived from C and N metabolism and characterize new nutritional sensors of C/N balance. Here, several innovative and powerful methods for chemical distribution mapping, proteomics and transcriptomic analyses are integrated in a convergent workflow with gene functional characterization to be carried out in cutting-edge institutions such as University of California San Diego and Universidad Politcnica de Madrid. Implementation of this multidisciplinary proposal will greatly bolster the fellows scientific profile and will uncover novel metabolite-controlled signalling pathways useful for knowledge-based improvements on plant nutrition and crop yield of scientific and societal relevance. |
