Integrated -omics and functional study of the cell wall folding mechanism in resurrection plants

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Dorothea Bartels
• Subject Area: Plant Physiology
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 283163148

Water shortage is one of the most dramatic stress factors negatively impacting crop yield, and the occurrence of drought periods is foreseen to increase in the next decades. It is of the utmost importance to understand the mechanisms involved in drought tolerance to be able to transfer this knowledge in biotechnological programs aimed at improving crop tolerance to drought. Cell walls and plasma membranes are physically affected upon water loss and the subsequently loss of turgor pressure, and breakage of these structures leads to leakages and ultimately cell death. In this context, resurrection plants, i.e. plants with remarkable ability to survive extreme desiccation, have been studied to decipher the mechanisms by which they are able to withstand extreme desiccation. The current project hypothesizes that changes in the cell wall proteome and its polysaccharide composition enable resurrection plants (i.e. Craterostigma plantagineum) to tolerate the mechanical tension (due to turgor loss) caused by a loss of more than 95% of their relative water content and allow folding, unfolding during dehydration/rehydration cycle. Subsequent changes in the lipid composition and the proteome of the plasma membranes are allowing the preservation of its integrity despite oxidative stress and tissue desiccation. In order to test this hypothesis, the focus will be put on subcellular characterization of the cell wall and the plasma membrane: the proteomes will be analysed during hydrated, dehydrated, rehydrated states. To complement these datasets, the composition of the cell wall will be characterized by imaging, immunological and chemical assays and the lipid composition of the plasma membrane will be determined in the same physiological states. A functional analysis will also be performed to validate the results obtained in cell wall and plasma membrane using overexpression of some genes described in previous steps in tobacco and C. plantagineum calli submitted to drought.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Luxembourg
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Jean-Francois Hausman