Research Projects

Plants, due to their sessile nature, adapt their physiological, developmental, and metabolomic responses to environmental stresses like nutrient deficiency. Nitrogen (N) is crucial for plant growth and productivity, with 80-90% of soils deficient in N. However, excessive use of fertilizers can lead to excess nitrification, resulting in high salt levels in 75% of soils. This results in combinatorial stress, where plants encounter low nitrogen and high salinity. Roots, the underground plant organ, sense changes in nutrient composition in the rhizosphere and modify their root system architecture to overcome these changes. For example, under low nitrogen stress, roots elongate to forge nitrogen from the rhizosphere, while salinity stress represses these traits. To date, no genetic factors have been identified that could modulate plant adaptation, root plasticity, metabolic, and nitrogen balance during combinatorial stress. This proposal aims to uncover the mechanisms underlying root foraging responses, N uptake, and assimilation under combined stress using Arabidopsis as a system. RNA sequencing data and functional analysis of putative candidate genes will provide new information about the function of genes that could regulate root developmental plasticity and nitrogen balance as a result of adaptation strategies to sustain growth.