Project description
Shedding light on plant responses and adaptation to environmental stresses
Plants have complicated mechanisms that help them survive environmental changes. It is believed that organelles within the cell (such as mitochondria and chloroplasts) are important sensors of stresses and are in a prime position to communicate stress signals and eventually provoke adaptive responses. However, our understanding of how these organelles communicate with each other to coordinate and trigger optimal responses remains limited. The EU-funded COSI project aims to study the direct association between organelles induced by stresses through the identification of stress-induced contact sites with the use of state-of-the-art live-cell imaging and proteomics methods. The results of the project will offer a better understanding and re-evaluation of the fundamental mechanisms of plant responses and adaptation to stress.
Objective
To be able to suTo be able to survive constantly changing and often harmful environmental conditions, plants must continuously adapt. Therefore, plants have complex mechanisms that sense and transduce environmental stimuli into adaptive responses. Organelles within the cell are thought to be important sensors and due to their tight integration into whole-cell metabolic and signalling networks, they are in a prime position to communicate stress signals and trigger adaptive responses. However, the mechanisms on how organelles convey stress signals remain poorly understood, especially in plants: “Which is the nature of the signals, how are they propagated and how are they perceived by other organelles?”
I have revealed a novel mechanism how mitochondria, chloroplasts, and the endoplasmic reticulum communicate stress signals to coordinate stress signal transduction into adaptive responses in the nucleus. My recent data provide novel leads that this coordination is mediated by organellar re-positioning and close association with each other. Therefore, I hypothesize that these organelles can associate directly through contact sites to enable fast and efficient communication of stress signals. Although inter-organellar contact sites have been studied in animal and yeast systems, mainly in the context of lipid transfer and calcium exchange, nearly nothing is known on their existence and mode of action in plants.
Understanding the mechanisms and functions of inter-organellar contact sites induced by stress is key in plant stress signalling research. To tackle this question, the COSI project will first identify stress-induced inter-organellar contact sites (SOCS) by means of high-end live-cell imaging and proteomics approaches, followed by their functional characterisation in plant stress responses.
The outcome of COSI is will be a better understanding, and potentially re-evaluation, of the fundamental mechanisms by which plants respond and adapt to stresses.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins proteomics
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry alkaline earth metals
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-STG
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9052 ZWIJNAARDE - GENT
Belgium
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