Ricerc@Sapienza

In plant meristems, stem cells continuously originate daughter cells that eventually differentiate into diverse tissues and organs. As plants are sessile organisms, meristem activity and thus organ development are strongly influenced by environmental conditions.
Understanding how meristems control organ growth adapting it to the environment is a major question in developmental biology.
This project will address this question in Arabidopsis focusing on salt stress as an environmental challenge. As the root is the plant organ that first perceives salt stress, the project specifically concentrates on genetic traits and mechanisms that that adapt the activity of the root meristems to this environmental stress. In particular, the project aims to assess whether the ARR1/GH3.17/PIN5 molecular module, previously identified as crucial in controlling Arabidopsis root meristem development, also mediates meristem response to salt stress in Arabidopsis. As miRNA are important signals in controlling root growth, the project also aims at establishing whether miRNAs, controlling root grow in response to salt stress, exist.
Salt stress is among the major abiotic stresses, severely limiting the yield of crops. It is thus imperative that countries like Italy, where crop production is an important economical resource, develop innovative and efficient approaches to effectively tackle with this issue. This project has therefore a strong scientific content as well as a relevant agronomic significance. The proponents will take advantage of state of the art techniques including the development of a root grow computational modelling.