Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory

In nature, plants are living in constantly changing environments that are often unfavorable or stressful for growth and development. Adverse environmental conditions, including drought, extreme temperatures, and salinity, constitute major limiting factors for plant geographical distribution and productivity in agriculture, and threaten food security. These conditions are expected to increase along this century due to drastic changes in climate, much of which are driven by global warming. As a consequence, agriculture and the way our crops grown, as well as the way in which our ecosystems evolve will be greatly affected. 

To survive the environmental stress conditions to which they are often exposed, plants modify their metabolism and growth by reprogramming gene expression. Although many stress-regulated genes have already been identified and characterized, the molecular mechanisms underlying those adaptive responses still are not well understood. Elucidating these mechanisms, in addition of being a fundamental biological question, is critical to improve stress tolerance in crops to achieve agricultural sustainability and food security for a growing world population.

Our research program is aimed to identify and characterize the molecular mechanisms of plant adaptation and tolerance to abiotic stresses. Using Arabidopsis as a model system and a multidisciplinary approach, including a combination of genetic, biochemical, cell biology, genomic and proteomic experimental strategies, we have identified molecular regulators involved at different levels (chromatin/epigenetic, transcriptional and posttranscriptional) in plant adaptation to adverse environments. Current efforts are mainly dedicated to understand the way of action of these elements and their roles in abiotic stress responses. The conservation of the molecular regulators identified in Arabidopsis in important crops such as tomato is also being a subject of study.