Research
Flood severity and frequency are increasing strongly as a consequence of climate change. Floods have a devastating impact on crop productivity and understanding how a variety of plant species sense flooding and acclimate accordingly is essential for flood-resilient crop breeding. In our lab we study the spatiotemporal dynamics of flooding signals and how they mediate plant stress responses and development. Moreover, we are interested in how prior flooding events control plant development and stress responses during subsequent flooding stress, a process we call flooding memory.
Flooding signals control stress responses and development
Submerged plants use entrapment of the gaseous hormone ethylene as a potential flooding signal to acclimate to impending low-oxygen (hypoxia) stress. Ethylene signaling is integrated with the plant's oxygen sensing pathway and augments transcriptional hypoxia responses to promote survival chances. In addition, we find that ethylene improves antioxidant activity and may limit plant development temporarily until stressful conditions are over. How do plants use ethylene and hypoxia signals to find a tailored balance between increased stress responses on the one hand, and limit growth and development on the other?
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Projects
Flooding stress memory promotes tolerance to subsequent stress
Many organisms have the capacity for cellular or epigenetic memory of prior (stressful) events, including plants. This stress memory has been documented for a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses and can help plants to acclimate faster during subsequent stressful events. We find that plants also have the capacity to remember flooding stress, which improves tolerance during additional flooding events. What signals do plants use to remember flooding stress? We (Dr. Aida Maric & Advait Agashe) further aim to find the memory-encoding mechanisms and targets that promote stress acclimation. Can we (epi)genetically introduce memories that never occured, or can we make flooded plants forget they were ever flooded?
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Rain functions as an early warning signal for flooding stress
Plants have the ability to perceive mechanical stress, including wind, touch and rain. Rain does not always lead to waterlogging stress, but waterlogging and flooding stress rarely occurs without it having rained first. We (Rim Chaudhury) study how plants perceive mechano-perception of rain to enhance tolerance to subsequent flooding stress.
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Adaptive root growth behavior under waterlogging stress
Naturally, plant roots are the first organs to sense waterlogging and most sensitive to hypoxia stress. We (Kevin Daniel) aim to systematically assess all changes in root system architecture under waterlogging, the underlying molecular signalling cascades and their functional contributions to stress resilience. In addition, we (Dr. Omar Hewedy) aim use naturally-occuring soil bacteria to control plant (root) growth and promote flooding stress resilience in both model and crop species.
Funding
Our research is funded and supported by CIBSS, MWK, DAAD, IMPRS and the University of Freiburg. Some discoveries that led to the current research programme were funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Our graduate students and early career researchers are further supported by SGBM, IMPRS and CIBSS.
Collaborators
Prof. Daniel J. Gibbs of the University of Birmingham (UK)
Prof. Rashmi Sasidharan of Utrecht University (NL)
Prof. Malcolm Bennett of the University of Nottingham (UK)
Dr. Gabriel Castrillo of the University of Nottingham (UK)
Prof. Magdalena Arasimowicz-Jelonek of Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland)
Dr. Eleazar José Rodriguez Gomes of the University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
Dr. Vicent Arbona of the Univsitat Jaume I (Spain)
Dr. Sara Simonini of the University of Zurich (Switzerland)
