Ricerc@Sapienza

Drought is the leading cause of a world-wide reduction in crop yields and poses a major threat to the global food supply. The effect of soil drought on crop fitness and yield has been well taken into consideration in crop management and biotechnology approaches. However, there is increasing evidence that addressing soil drought alone may not be enough to prevent plant stress. Indeed, a changing climate is making evident that air drought -due for example to hot dry winds- is highly detrimental for plant function, survival, growth, and productivity.

This research project aims at closing the gaps in our understanding of the specific role of air drought as a key component of drought stress by characterizing and identifying the physiological and molecular traits specifically linked to air drought, using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system.

This research will shed the basis for a full understanding of the gene networks controlling plant responses to air drought.
In addition, it will establish the role of a neglected yet increasingly critical factor of climatic impacts on plant growth, and generate data that will foster the development of crops resistant to a drier and hotter future with increasing demand for water.