Rens Voesenek

Plant Ecophysiology, Utrecht University

Hosted by Divya Vashisht

Abstract:

The severity and frequency of floods is predicted to increase with changing global weather patterns. These floods adversely affect crop growth and yields. Research aimed at increasing plant resistance to abiotic stresses such as flooding is therefore a high global priority. The volatile plant hormone ethylene accumulates in submerged plant tissues very quickly (within 1 h) and acts as a reliable proxy for submergence and probably therefore this hormone operates upstream of many flood adaptive processes. In Arabidopsis, ethylene can ‘prepare’ (prime) plants for flooding tolerance to later occurring oxygen deficiency (hypoxia). This novel mechanism of flooding tolerance is regulated via increased transcription and stabilisation of group VII Methionine-Cysteine (MC) Ethylene Response Factor (ERF) transcription factors. Upon hypoxia these MC-ERFs regulate the transcription of adaptive core-hypoxia genes. We hypothesize that ethylene-regulated increase of non-symbiotic hemoglobin causes stabilization of MC-ERFs via its capacity to scavenge NO.