Detalle de: ENIGmA: Exploring Novel plant-to-plant Intercommunication pathways Governing environmental Acclimation.

Plants usually live in groups of the same or different species, and communicate with each other by emitting and perceiving Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), constituting a complex alphabet that allows them to be aware of different environmental stimuli, such as the proximity of other plants or a pathogen threat. Thus, plants use an intricate array of air-borne VOC signals to fine-tune development, fitness and/or resilience capacities according to the environmental situation of their neighbourhood. It is our goal to help decypher this complex network and learn the specific responses of this VOC-based language in plants. We are focusing on plants as receivers of information to learn how they decrypt vegetation proximity (shade) and pathogen attack signals encrypted by emitter plants as VOC cues, and transduce them into specific acclimation responses. To do so, we are studying:

1- VOCs released by challenged emitter plants

2- Changes in gene expression in receiver plants after exposure to VOCs from emitter plants

3- Acclimation and other physiological responses triggered by VOCs on receiver plants

4- Molecular mechanisms governing integration of VOC signals in receiver plants