Our major research focus is to understand the signaling pathways that modulate the root development in response to environmental stimuli and stresses. Plants have an extraordinary ability to alter their development in response to numerous environmental factors or stress. Plant being sessile organism, this phenotypic plasticity allows them to constantly adapt to their local environment and is key to their survival. Roots the hidden half of the plants are greatly versatile structures with key functions that enable the plant to survive in the natural environment. Plant roots are in charge of delivering the nutrients and water that are normally a limiting factor in many soil types, as well as providing anchoring to the ground. Moreover, roots are also in the first line to respond to stresses produced by drought, heat or nutrient limitations. The development of an efficient root system better adapted to different soil conditions is crucial for the plant survival. Understanding of the genetic and molecular factors regulating this developmental process will allow us to design future crops with enhanced productivity and adaptation to constantly changing climate.

How plant root development and growth is influenced and regulated by environmental signals is a major research question of our group. In particular, we focus on the effects of nutrient starvation, high temperature, cold temperature, salinity and drought on root system architecture (RSA) using Arabidopsis plants. We are applying experimental [forward/reverse genetics approach, transcriptomics approach, biochemical techniques, high-throughput phenotyping, Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) and live imaging] and computational approaches to answer this question. As stress signaling pathways are evolutionary conserved, we also aim to translate knowledge gained from Arabidopsis to wheat, tomato and maize.

Finding genes or regulatory systems that modify root development might have adaptive value and has various implications for biotechnology and agronomy. In particular, the ability to generate plants with different root growth has great potential for adapting plants to specific habitat.