DEMEtRA · DEcoding Metabolic Effectors in plant sTress Response and Acclimation

The European Commission aims at promoting agricultural innovation while preserving biodiversity and without increasing arable land surface. Understanding how plants respond to stress is therefore vital to design new, improved agricultural solutions that meet these requirements.General and conserved plant stress responses to pathogens rely on systemic propagation of Calcium (Ca2+) signalling and reactive oxygen species (ROS) from the site of attack to distant organs. An unexpected, essential link between primary metabolism (i.e. NADP/H production), long-distance Ca2+ signals and ROS propagation was recently brought to light, thus opening a new line of fundamental research (i.e. the metabolic regulation of plant stress signalling) and suggesting that modulation of NADP metabolism can boost plant defences.DEMEtRA (DEcoding Metabolic Effectors in plant sTress Response and Acclimation) aims at obtaining a deep characterization of this metabolic regulation of plant signalling in response to bacterial pathogens by combining biochemical and cutting-edge imaging techniques. This project will produce a thorough characterization of the NADP/H production mechanism and of the perturbations of long-distance signalling caused by a shortage of NADP/H. Finally, it will allow engineering new solutions to improve plant stress responses against pathogens, by acting on NADP/H metabolism. Thus, DEMEtRA will quickly advance fundamental research on plant stress signalling and guide biotechnological applications to improve conserved, natural defence mechanisms in crop plants.