16 ERA-CAPS. MURINAS_Mechano-purino signalling in abiotic stress

为了生存，植物必须在风面前保持直立的茎，而它们的根必须在土壤坚硬和压实的情况下寻找水分和养分。风诱导茎的适应性结构变化，包括组织增厚。当感觉到障碍物时，根会穿透坚硬的底物并改变它们的生长和形状。尽管有这种适应能力，但机械应力约占欧洲每年因风力倒伏造成的作物产量损失的10%，土壤压实可能造成10%-50%的产量损失。发现植物如何感知和应对机械压力有助于培育适应能力更强的作物。在模式植物拟南芥中已经确定了一种蛋白质，它可以感知植物细胞壁的机械应力，并向细胞发送适应的信息。这种蛋白质(DORN1)通过激活钙离子进入细胞内而发出信号，而钙离子的增加则作为适应的信号。该项目的目标是确定使钙进入DORN1下游细胞的蛋白质。在拟南芥中获得的结果可以在中长期内转移到作物上。在了解这些有围墙的生物如何应对它们所面临的机械压力方面的这一创新，将提供一个平台，以改善作物倒伏和根的生长，符合跨国农业战略目标。

To survive, plants must maintain an upright stem in the face of wind, while their roots must forage for water and nutrients despite soil hardness and compaction. Wind induces adaptive structural changes in stems, including tissue thickening. Roots penetrate hard substrate and modify their growth and shape as obstacles are sensed. Despite this adaptive capacity, mechanical stresses account for approximately 10% of annual European crop yield loss from wind lodging and 10-50% yield loss can arise from soil compaction. Discovering how plants sense and respond to mechanical stress could help in breeding better adapted crops. A protein has been identified in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana that could sense mechanical stress in the plant cell wall and send a message to the cell to adapt. This protein (DORN1) sends its message by activating the movement of calcium into the cell and the increase of calcium acts as the signal to adapt. The objective of this project is to identify the proteins that enable calcium entry into the cell downstream of DORN1. The results obtained in Arabidopsis could be transferred to crops in the medium to long term. This innovation in understanding how these walled organisms cope with the mechanical stresses they face will provide a platform to improve crop lodging and root growth in line with trans-national strategic aims for agriculture.