Ricerc@Sapienza

The project proposed by the Department of Environmental Biology consists of an integrated “intelligent” Phytotron (Integrated Smart Phytotrone) which aims to carry out interdisciplinary experiments on the reactions of plants to different types of stress: pollution, pathogens, drought inter alia. The Integrated Smart Phytotrone, hereinafter referred to as ISP, is divided into: two walk-in growth chambers that allow the control of the main environmental parameters (photosynthetically active radiation, temperature, relative humidity). In these growth chambers it will be possible to simulate specific environmental conditions and to use plant pathogens to simulate stressful conditions. One chamber will be used as a control, the second for the treatment according to the experimental protocol defined each time. infrared gas analyzer (IRGA) which will allow the continuous monitoring of the instantaneous gas exchange rates in the day / night between plants and the atmosphere and the alterations of these processes in response to the treatments considered. a thermodesorber connected to a gas chromatograph connected to a Q / TOF mass spectrometer (TD-GC-Q / TOF). This analysis will univocally identify all the volatile organic substances (VOCs) produced by plants both under normal and stress conditions. The two chambers, the IRGA analyzer and the TD-GC-Q / TOF will be integrated through a forced suction system and adsorption and conduction tubes that will bring the inorganic and organic gaseous substances to the analyzers that will be installed in an air-conditioned box and with filtered air set up between the two walk-in chambers. This integration will allow ISP to work as a single tool in which the gaseous substances produced by the plants in the phytotrons (emission) will be analyzed and identified in real time by the analyzers downstream of the system (analysis). In this context, the experimental versatility of the "Smart" PHYTOTRONE which allows to manage the intensity of different types of stress is an important advantage to face the current research challenges. Evaluating the response of different species, with different levels of resistance to biotic (parasitic fungi) and abiotic (drought, heavy metals, tropospheric ozone) stresses is an essential preliminary step to define the resilience to stress of different species. Even if the results obtained under controlled conditions cannot be generalized in the field, they nevertheless represent an essential step to estimate what changes could occur on the composition of species in ecosystems exposed to different environmental stresses. Furthermore, several stressors, alone or in combination, affect plant functionality and their ability to provide regulatory services that can greatly affect human well-being (ONE HEALTH).