Stress Biology

The Stress Biology group, using primarily molecular, biochemical, and physiological approaches—and also incorporating biophysical and ecophysiological scales—studies how different abiotic stress conditions and their interactions with beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms determine plant growth and development. As members and successors of the research lines established by Prof. Victorio Trippi, a central focus of our work is understanding how these conditions modulate oxidative processes and redox changes mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS), which, in a dose-dependent manner, mediate local and systemic signaling, acclimation processes, immune memory, metabolic alterations, senescence symptoms, and cell death. We also investigate the role of small RNAs in the regulation of gene expression in these processes, particularly in systemic signaling and the induction of immune memory. In this context, we further explore the regulation of autophagy—a highly conserved cellular process with both pro-survival and pro-death functions in eukaryotes—during responses to different reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, redox imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, varying temperature ranges, chemical and biological immunity inducers, interactions with beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms, and in the regulation of plant growth and development.

Staff