Overview

Plants are highly influenced by the surrounding environmental changes, which shape growth and development over the entire plant life cycle. Elucidating how internal and external cues are coordinated to spatially and temporally regulate plant development is essential for understanding plant optimum fitness and reproductive success.

Research in our Program aims to gain in-depth fundamental knowledge on the molecular and cellular determinants governing plant signaling and development. We use multifaceted and integrative approaches, from cells, tissues and organs all the way to the whole plant. Our research focuses on environmental cues, mainly light and temperature, and endogenous pathways such as hormone and circadian signalling, to examine their effect on multiple developmental processes, from seed germination or root development to floral induction. Molecular mechanisms involving non-coding RNA molecules and post-translational regulation of protein function are also topics covered in our Program. We employ a combination of molecular, genetic, biochemical, and computational approaches using Arabidopsis thaliana as well as a variety of other species such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Sorghum bicolor.

Ultimately, our Program aims to obtain a comprehensive understanding of how plants grow, develop and evolve in coordination with the surrounding environment. The drastic environmental changes imposed by climate alteration negatively impact the productivity of agronomically important crops. A detailed and predictive understanding of plant growth and development will be essential to tackle these negative effects.

Publications

Martín-Merchán A.; Lavatelli A.; Engler C.; González-Miguel V.M.; Moro B.; Rosano G.L.; Bologna N.G.

Arabidopsis AGO1 N-terminal extension acts as an essential hub for PRMT5 interaction and post-translational modifications (2024) Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 52 (14), pp. 8466 -8482 (DOI:10.1093/nar/gkae387)

de los Cobos F.P.; García-Gómez B.E.; Orduña-Rubio L.; Batlle I.; Arús P.; Matus J.T.; Eduardo I.

Article Exploring large-scale gene coexpression networks in peach (Prunus persica L.): a new tool for predicting gene function (2024) Horticulture Research, vol. 11 (2), Art. number uhad294 (DOI:10.1093/hr/uhad294)

Fontanet-Manzaneque J.B.; Haeghebaert J.; Aesaert S.; Coussens G.; Pauwels L.; Caño-Delgado A.I.

Efficient sorghum and maize transformation using a ternary vector system combined with morphogenic regulators (2024) Plant Journal, vol. 120 (5), pp. 2076 -2088 (DOI:10.1111/tpj.17101)

Tremblay B.J.M.; Santini C.P.; Cheng Y.; Zhang X.; Rosa S.; Qüesta J.I.

Interplay between coding and non-coding regulation drives the Arabidopsis seed-to-seedling transition (2024) Nature Communications, vol. 15 (1), Art. number 1724 (DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-46082-5)

Larran A.S.; Ge J.; Martín G.; De la Concepción J.C.; Dagdas Y.; Qüesta J.I.

Nucleo-cytoplasmic distribution of SAP18 reveals its dual function in splicing regulation and heat-stress response in Arabidopsis (2024) Plant Communications, (Article in press), Art. number 101180 (DOI:10.1016/j.xplc.2024.101180)