Plant Transcriptomics and Environmental Adaptation

Group Leaders
Guimar Martín
Ramón y Cajal Researcher
Group Members

General research support

PhD Students

Overview

As sessile organisms, plants must continuously adapt their development to the surrounding environment. Therefore, accurate molecular systems operate to transduce environmental signals into appropriate developmental responses. These systems include both transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes. Among them, we are particularly intrigued by the potential of alternative splicing in diversifying plant transcriptomes, a research area that remains relatively underexplored. Our research is centered on understanding: (i) The transcriptomic changes responsible for driving developmental adaptations in specific environmental contexts. (ii) The mechanisms through which regulatory proteins implement these environmentally induced transcriptomic changes. (iii) The integration of splicing and transcriptional regulation. To address these questions, our studies range from genome-wide approaches to detailed functional and molecular studies of specific genes and/or splicing isoforms. Through these studies, we expect to identify novel molecular pathways of environmentally regulated plant development. In addition, our genomic studies include the development of informatic resources for the study of plant alternative splicing (PastDB).

Selected Publications

Martín G*.
Regulation of alternative splicing by retrograde and light signal converges to control chloroplast proteins. 
(2023) Frontiers in Plant Science, 14: 1097127.

Martín G.*; Duque P. 
Tailoring Photomorphogenic Markers to Organ Growth Dynamics in Arabidopsis. 
(2021) Plant Physiology, 186: 239-249.

Martín G.*; Marquez Y.; Mantica F.; Duque P.; Irimia M.*
Alternative splicing landscapes in Arabidopsis thaliana across tissues and stress conditions highlight major functional differences with animals. 
(2021) Genome Biology, 22: 35. 

Laloum T.; Martín G.; Duque P.
Alternative splicing control of abiotic stress responses. 
(2018) Trends in Plant Science, 23: 140-150. 

Martín G.; Rovira A.; Veciana N.; Soy J.; Toledo-Ortiz G.; Gommers C.M.M.; Boix M.; Henriques R.; Minguet E.G.; Alabadí D.; Halliday K.J.; Leivar P.; Monte E.
Circadian waves of transcriptional repression shape PIF-regulated photoperiod-responsive growth in Arabidopsis. 
(2018) Current Biology, 28: 311-318.

Martín G.; Leivar P.; Ludevid D.; Tepperman J.M.; Quail P.H.; Monte E. 
Phytochrome and retrograde signalling pathways converge to antagonistically regulate a light-induced transcriptional network. 
(2016) Nature Communications, 7: 11431.