The Plant Stress Signaling lab work aims to understand how plants manage their carbon resources and how carbon management systems interact with other signaling pathways to control stress responses and growth and to drive adequate developmental decisions. To this end, the research group is focusing on one major component of the carbon management network, the SnRK1 signaling pathway. SnRK1 is an evolutionarily conserved protein kinase complex (ortholog of human AMPK) that is activated in response to declining energy levels (e.g. during stress) to promote energy-producing catabolic processes and to inhibit energy-consuming biosynthetic processes and growth. Conversely, SnRK1 is repressed by sugars such as trehalose-6-phosphate.

Manipulation of SnRK1 results in altered tolerance to a wide range of abiotic and biotic stresses, as well as a broad spectrum of growth and developmental phenotypes.

They are undertaking a multifaceted strategy that combines biochemical approaches, transient cell-based assays, genetics, proteomics and metabolomics with various interactor and mutant screens to address:

1.   how is SnRK1 regulated?;
2.   how does SnRK1 control gene expression and central metabolism?;
3.   how does SnRK1 interact with the ABA pathway, also central to stress responses and development?;
4.   how does SnRK1 modify specific developmental processes?

In the long-term, their goal is to identify mechanisms by which plants adapt to unfavorable environments, ultimately contributing potential strategies to enhance stress tolerance and productivity.