Project description
Uncovering selective autophagy mechanisms under salt stress
Soil salinity endangers agriculture, underscoring the need to understand how plants respond to salt stress. The protein ATG11 is key to autophagy and helps recycle cellular components. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SALTS project is uncovering the principles of selective autophagy under salt stress in Arabidopsis thaliana. It will investigate how ATG11 interacts with autophagy components, characterise its subcellular regulation, and use advanced imaging to explore its role in stress response. Additionally, a novel proximity-labelling tool will be developed to enhance our understanding of the selective autophagy proteome under stress. This research will bridge gaps in plant autophagy research, enhance stress resilience, and support the researcher’s growth.
Objective
Increase in soil salinity is a major agricultural threat worldwide, therefor investigating plant molecular mechanisms for mitigation of salt-induced stress is necessary and timely. Salt stress triggers extensive proteome remodelling to maintain cellular proteostasis, a process relying on selective proteolytic pathways such as autophagy, which recycles cellular components via double-membraned vesicles. Although autophagy is known to be crucial for plant salt-stress responses, the molecular mechanisms underlying its selective activation remain elusive. The proposed project, SALTS, aims to close this gap by elucidating the principles of selective autophagy initiation during salt stress. Central to this effort is the poorly characterized plant protein ATG11. Conserved in other model systems, ATG11 is essential for initiation of autophagosome formation and recruitment of selective autophagy receptors (SAR). This makes ATG11 a prime candidate to uncover how selective autophagy is orchestrated in plants. SALTS will pursue three objectives: (i) define how Arabidopsis thaliana ATG11 engages with autophagy components, unravelling the molecular binding modes thanks to gold-standard methods supported by the host labs; (ii) characterize the subcellular regulation of AtATG11 during salt stress and its role in SAR recruitment using advanced live-cell imaging facility from the host institute; and (iii) exploit ATG11’s central function to develop a novel proximity-labelling tool enabling unprecedented resolution of the selective autophagy proteome under stress. SALTS will close fundamental gaps in our understanding of plant autophagy, clarifying its contribution to stress resilience and creating an innovative approach to investigate this process. Altogether, SALTS will deliver essential insights into plant stress biology with impacts extending beyond plant science while being a springboard for my development as an independent researcher.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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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 biological sciences botany
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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)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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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.
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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1180 Wien
Austria
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