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MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF ZINC DEFICIENCY RESPONSE IN PLANTS

16 Feb 2018 - Pedro Humberto Castro (PLANTBIO, CIBIO-InBIO/UP) | February 23, 2018 - 16h00 | CIBIO-InBIO’s Auditorium, Campus de Vairão
MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF ZINC DEFICIENCY RESPONSE IN PLANTS

 

Zinc is a micronutrient for all living organisms that functions as a cofactor in many essential proteins. Zinc deficiency in cultivated soil is a severe worldwide problem that affects crop yield and quality and, consequently, human nutrition. To counterattack zinc starvation, plants developed sophisticated molecular strategies to boost zinc uptake and distribution. The activation of these pathways occurs at the transcriptional level by the action of transcription factors from the subfamily F of plant bZIPs (F-bZIPs). This presentation will address the function of two F-bZIPs mainly in the model plant Arabidopsis. Considering that the Arabidopsis F-bZIP AtbZIP19 and -23 are transcriptional regulators, we performed a transcriptomic analysis to dissect which genes and gene networks are controlled by these transcription factors. In addition, a comprehensive phylogenetic study suggested that F-bZIP orthologs and function are conserved across land plants which will offer opportunities for translational approaches between Arabidopsis and relevant crop species.

 

Pedro Humberto Castro has a degree in Applied Biology obtained in Univ. Minho and a PhD degree in Biology performed in Univ. Minho and Univ. of Malaga. He was a postdoc researcher in the Section for Plant and Soil Sciences at the Univ. Copenhagen and now a postdoc researcher in PlantBIO at CIBIO-InBIO, both in Ana Assunção group. His current scientific interests are to understand how plants perceive environmental cues, how they react accordingly and the molecular mechanisms that confer such plasticity to plants. This fundamental knowledge is essential to find plants more tolerant to environmental stresses, pathogen infections and nutrient imbalances.

 

[Host: Herlânder Azevedo, Plant Biology]

 

Image credits: Pedro Humberto Castro

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