PhD - Study of the role of a family of scaffold proteins in plant adaptation to environmental...

La Caixa INPhINIT Incoming Fellowships are dedicated and offered to early-stage researchers of any nationality to pursue their PhD studies in research centers accredited with the Spanish Seal of Excellence Severo Ochoa, María de Maeztu or Health Institute Carlos III and Portuguese units participating in the program.

• 3 years contract

• Candidates cannot have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the deadline for application.

• Program includes a training programme on transversal skills aiming in widening the chances for personal development, not only in academia, but also in industry.

• Candidates must be in the first four years of their research career and must not have previously obtained a PhD degree or be in a position to apply for one

• Candidates must accredit an advanced level of English (B2 or higher)

• Competitive salary with additional amount for research costs and a €7500 prize for fellows who deposit the thesis within 6 months after the third year of the fellowship has ended

Research Project / Research Group Description

One of the main challenges for agriculture is to optimize crop production to meet the food needs of the increasing world population. In this sense, one of the main problems to face in the near future is the drastic reduction on crop yield caused by environmental stresses, such as drought and high temperatures. In the coming years, this problem is expected to worsen as a result of climate change, since climate models predict that the global average temperature will increase between 1 and 5°C at the end of the 21st century, enhancing the severity of heat and draught periods and leading to further losses in crop production worldwide.

In our lab, we have recently unveiled a family of proteins that functions as molecular scaffolds and allow protein-protein interactions. Our data show that this family of proteins plays a major role in plant adaptation to different stresses, including moderate increases of ambient temperature through a process that seems dependent on different plant hormones. Despite the relevant role in plant adaptation to stress and specifically to high temperatures, how the scaffold proteins modulate the hormonal networks is unknown. In addition, the information of the role of these proteins in other stress-related processes or developmental programs is extremely scarce.

This project aims the study of the role of this family of proteins in response to moderate increases of temperature and other environmental stresses such as draught. In addition, during this study we will evaluate the use of these proteins as biotechnological tools to enhance plant adaptation to different stresses associated with climate change.

Job position description

The project will involve a combination of molecular biology, genetics, transcriptomics and proteomics to investigate the functional role of different scaffold proteins in plant adaptation to environmental stresses associated to climate change. This approach will cover the following tasks:

1. Study of the role of this family of scaffold proteins in response to different stresses.

Our current hypothesis is that the scaffold proteins interact with other proteins and modulate their function. Therefore, as a first approach to characterize the role of the scaffold proteins, we propose to identify the proteins they bind to and that could be direct targets of their regulation in response to stress.

2. Analysis of the molecular role of these proteins in stress-related processes.

Once we have identified the possible targets, we will study how the binding to the scaffold proteins modulates the activity of their interacting proteins. In addition, we will analyze the role of this interaction in plant adaptation to different stresses, paying a special attention to the moderate increase of temperature and draught.

3. Study of the use of these proteins as biotechnological tools to enhance plant adaptation to climate change.

Our results strongly suggest that the scaffold proteins are essential for plant adaptation to different stresses, including the moderate increases of temperature associated with the current scenario of climate change. For this reason, we aim at analyzing whether the overexpression of the scaffold proteins could enhance plant adaptation to this threat. As a first step, we will analyze the performance of Arabidopsis lines overexpressing the different scaffold proteins under different stress conditions (heat, draught, etc.), but, if the results in Arabidopsis are promising, this technology will be transferred to plants with agronomic interest.

GROUP LEADER

Dr. M. Mar Castellano [email protected]

RESEARCH PRODUCT / RESEARCH GROUP

REGULATION OF TRANSLATION DURING ABIOTIC STRESS CONDITIONS IN PLANTS

http://www.cbgp.upm.es/index.php/es/informacion-cientifica/interaccion-de-las-plantas-con-el-medio-ipm/regulation-of-translation