PLANTEX · Limited proteolysis mechanisms in plants for selective protein translation to improve heat tolerance

Heat waves threaten agriculture in the EU and worldwide. Exactly how we can protect our crops precisely and rapidly from heat is a lingering question with important implications for future food security. My aim with PLANTEX is to explore the potential of a rapid stress response that my lab has discovered and incorporate this knowledge into the design of new breeding strategies to improve crops. To bolster heat tolerance, I propose an innovative approach for the control of protein production networks by repurposing proteolytic pathways that control the dynamics of organelle-like assemblies known as condensates.My lab pioneers the study of proteolysis on the formation of condensates with unique properties that allow them to store functionally related proteins and RNAs. I dubbed the networks in these condensates that we discovered “coregulons”. These coregulons are responsible for undocumented rapid and synchronized stress responses, for example during heat, that depend on proteolysis. I hypothesize that the discovered condensates ensure an unappreciated rapid response to stress that is important for plant acclimation and that this knowledge can be exploited to engineer desirable traits in crops.In this project, I propose 1) to use our approaches to collect an extensive dataset of coregulons important for growth and environmental adaptation in the model organism Arabidopsis and the agricultural-relevant crop tomato, 2) to characterize novel mechanisms involving proteolysis of coregulons by refining and developing new approaches of protease-substrate capture, and 3) design and implement innovative strategies based on cutting-edge genetic approaches to improve the tolerance of tomato to heat waves.My objectives are ambitious but potentially game-changing by providing approaches that can help combat the escalating problem of food security and for our comprehension of how plants adapt to dynamic environments.