HIGHCODE · Unravelling high CO2-induced changes in stomatal development
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2023-04-01 → 2025-03-31
- EU contribution
- €199,694
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Unravelling high CO2-induced changes in stomatal development
Unlike animals, plants cannot move in response to changes in environmental conditions. Instead, they regulate their interaction with the outside world in order to optimize their fitness and survival. Plants regulate fundamental processes like gas exchange and regulation of inner temperature through pores located on the surface of the leaves, called stomata. They are similar to small mouths that open and close in response to different environmental stimuli. The HIGHCODE project aims to study how plants modify stomata number and disposition to adapt to different conditions, in a process called plasticity. In particular, the project goals are: - Describing the different patterns stomata can have on the leaves surface in response to different environments. - Understanding the main regulators of their environmental plasticity. These results can help understanding how plants adapt to environment, and they can lead to improved agricultural and environmental applications useful to face challenges like climate change.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Stomata are epidermal valves responsible for gas exchange in plant aerial tissues. Their number varies according to different environmental conditions, such as CO2 concentration. High CO2 levels negatively regulate stomatal development, but how such a repression works is poorly understood. In Arabidopsis thaliana, stomatal precursor cells develop asynchronously throughout leaf epidermis, undergoing a first asymmetric entry division that generates a small meristemoid and a larger stomatal lineage ground cell (SLGC). Meristemoids can go through up to three asymmetric amplifying divisions before forming mature stomata, while SLGCs can either undergo asymmetric spacing division or differentiate into pavement cells. How each of the three meristemoid division types are affected by CO2 is still unknown. Moreover, stomata form with the underlying mesophyll layer in a coordinated way. Both tissues are involved in CO2 sensing and high CO2 levels can affect their development. What are the factors regulating stomatal development modulation, and whether or not an interlayer coordination is required upon high CO2 conditions, has remained unexplored. The proposed project aims to unravel CO2-induced developmental response in leaf, understanding 1) how stomatal asymmetric divisions are affected by CO2, 2) what are the layer-specific regulators, 3) the mechanisms of developmental response. Spatiotemporal lineage tracing, tissue-specific transcriptomics and creation of selected mutant lines will be employed to elucidate how CO2 modulates leaf developmental program. To reach the proposed goals, I will be supervised in advanced confocal microscopy, bioinformatic analysis, oral and written communication of the research and developing of transferable skills. My previous experience as developmental biologist and with transcriptomic analysis, together with teaching and tutoring skills acquired, will help accomplishing the project goals.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO · HelsinkiCoordinatorFinland
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/101106048
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e502db8282&appId=PPGMS
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e5194b5e2a&appId=PPGMS
Data: CORDIS, © European Union