| Project Detail |
Innovative biosensor to monitor plant responses to strigolactones Strigolactones (SLs) are plant hormones involved in environmental interactions, including responses to drought. Mapping and quantifying SLs in plant tissues is challenging. Existing SL biosensors are hindered by signal degradation in the presence of SLs and the requirement for invasive detection techniques. Supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the StrigoSense project aims to develop a modular SL biosensor, also named StrigoSense. Paired with fluorescent and bioluminescent reporters, StrigoSense will track plant responses to SLs in Arabidopsis and tomato plants. Additionally, it will be used to investigate plant reactions to abiotic stresses and other compounds. The technical advantages of StrigoSense will render SL biosensors quicker, more cost-effective, and conducive to higher throughput. Strigolactones (SLs) are a class of plant hormones that participate in many plant environmental interactions, including responses to drought. Much still has to be understood about how they mediate plant responses to abiotic stresses, but their mapping and quantification in plant tissues is extremely difficult. Some SL biosensors have been developed in recent years, but they all suffer from some technical limitations: namely they are negative sensors whose signal is degraded in the presence of SLs, and they require laborious and invasive techniques for signal detection. The aim of this fellowship is thus to combine knowledge in the fields of plant synthetic biology and plant molecular physiology to construct a novel SL biosensor, called StrigoSense, which is positively activated in the presence of SLs. StrigoSense will be constructed using the principles of modularity and reusability: this will allow to pair it with many customisable reporter systems, creating a tool which can accomodate a variety of users and research applications. In this project, StrigoSense is coupled to fluorescent and bioluminescent reporters for the non-invasive monitoring of plant SL responses at the cell and system level. The biosensor will be developed in Arabidopsis and tomato plants, seeking to transfer the research conducted on model organisms to a crop of enormous relevance, narrowing the gap between basic research and the development of SL-based agricultural solutions. After fine-tuning, the biosensor will be used to monitor plant responses to different abiotic stresses and to an array of SL-like compounds and biostimulants with the potential of acting as priming agents that help plants cope with recurring water deficits. This will be the first example of the testing of a SL biosensor under physiological stress conditions. The technical advantages of StrigoSense will make SL biosensors faster, cheaper and more high-throughput, with benefits for basic and applied research. |
