IBVF will lead the “Redox regulation network and oxidative and nitrosative stress in plants” funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the General Directorate of research and management of the National R&D&I Plan.
The coordinator of the network will be Prof. Francisco Javier Cejudo, and in addition to his group, the research group attached to the IBVF and led by Dr. Cecilia Gotor Martínez will also participate, as well as several other research groups at a national level.
Due to their sessile lifestyle, plants have to adapt their development to continuous environmental changes — both biotic and abiotic — that generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitrogen (RNS) or sulfur (RSS), and that can cause oxidative or nitrosative stress. However, some of these molecules (H2O2, NO, H2S) have an important signaling function. These species generate modifications of lipids (oxylipins) and proteins (oxidation of Cys and Met, S-nitrosylation and sulfhydration, nitration of Tyr or disulfide-dithiol changes) that modify their activity and/or stability, allowing the rapid adaptation of the plant to environmental changes, which frequently affect crops of agronomic importance. The objective of the Network is to establish the mechanisms of interrelation of these signaling pathways by addressing in an integrated way the study of their signaling routes dependent on ROS, RNS and RSS in plant development and in the response of plants to biotic and abiotic stimuli. This network will generate relevant information on the mechanisms of rapid response of plants to changing environmental situations, knowledge that could eventually have biotechnological utility.