Molecular Mechanisms determining Seed Longevity
Understanding how seeds remain viable for years and how they deteriorate, and why some seeds remain viable longer than others is a fascinating subject that can be studied from the scientific point of view, but also with an enormous potential in oriented research, given the economic importance of the seed market and the low seed life span of many species. Seed longevity can be seen as a process where plant responses to both biotic and abiotic stresses are intermingled. Contrary to classical stress situations, is not the plant, but the metabolically inert dry seed which has to be prepared and resist the stressful conditions. Also peculiar is the fact that the new germinating seed has to cope with the consequences of a stress that occurred to the embryo in the past, not in real time. Moreover, it is an aspect of stress biology that integrates passive and active responses, protection and repair, and where development (seed maturation, germination, plant establishment) and stress research are combined.
In the last years, our group has initiated the search of new players contributing to the genetic component of seed longevity. Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, we want to identify genes relevant for resistance to seed deterioration, and to characterise their mode of action. From the scientific point of view, our interest is to understand how the seed is prepared during maturation to cope with aging, and how the emerging seedling repairs the damage accumulated during the aging period. Currently, several processes are being studied in detail: 1) How the environment during seed development influence seed longevity and other seed properties. We pretend to unravel the effects of the environment during seed development on seed longevity, and to identify the regulatory pathways transducing environmental signals and the downstream processes and genes involved. Our results will allow a major control of seed viability, allowing future improved agricultural practices and seed preservation management programmes. 2) What is the role of flavonoids in seed protection and their connection with testa development. Besides their supposed as antioxidants, these compounds may be acting as signalling molecules 3) We also use natural variation to identify new processed involved in seed longevity. From the oriented point of view, we are interested in knowing why and how different industrial seed treatments and coatings are affecting seed quality, and providing suggestions to seed companies in order to improve seed life span and seed quality.
Bacterial Effector and Plant-Pathogen Interaction
The discovery of new translocated plant effectors and the characterization of their activities, or the mechanisms by which they are recognized by the plant immune system is a second line of research in my group. Here, we are focused mainly on citrus-pathogen interactions. Xanthomonas citri is the causal agent of citrus canker. This bacterium uses transcriptional-activator like effectors (TALEs) to facilitate infection. The way the plant activates defence responses in response to specific TALEs has been investigated in our group during the last years. Our main objective here is to identify R genes triggering a hypersensitive response mediated by TALE-avirulence factors. HLB (Huanglongbing) is a devastating disease in Citrus, caused by bacteria of the Liberibacter genus. We are testing the role of putative bacterial effectors using heterologous systems, and using transcriptomics to characterize the plant responses to these bacteria in susceptible and resistant interactions.
2015-2023
Niñoles R, Arjona P, Azad SM, Hashim A, Casañ J, Bueso E, Serrano R, Espinosa A, Molina I, Gadea J*. Kaempferol-3-rhamnoside overaccumulation in flavonoid 3′-hydroxylase tt7 mutants compromises seed coat outer integument differentiation and seed longevity. New Phytologist. 2023 May;238(4):1461-1478
Niñoles R, Ruiz-Pastor CM, Arjona-Mudarra P, Casañ J, Renard J, Bueso E, Mateos R, Serrano R, Gadea J*. Transcription Factor DOF4.1 Regulates Seed Longevity in Arabidopsis via Seed Permeability and Modulation of Seed Storage Protein Accumulation. Frontiers in Plant Sciences. 2022 Jul 1;13:915184.
Niñoles R, Planes D, Arjona P, Ruiz-Pastor C, Chazarra R, Renard J, Bueso E, Forment J, Serrano R, Kranner I, Roach T, Gadea J*. Comparative analysis of wild-type accessions reveals novel determinants of Arabidopsis seed longevity. Plant Cell and Environment. 2022 Sep;45(9):2708-2728.
Garcia L, Molina MC, Padgett-Pagliai KA, Torres PS, Bruna RE, García Véscovi E, González CF, Gadea J*, Marano MR*. A serralysin-like protein of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus modulates components of the bacterial extracellular matrix. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2022 Oct 19;13:1006962
Joan Renard, Irene Martínez-Almonacid, Indira Queralta Castillo, Annika Sonntag, Aseel Hashim, Gaetano Bissoli, Laura Campos, Jesús Muñoz-Bertomeu, Regina Niñoles, Thomas Roach, Susana Sánchez-León, Carmen V. Osuna, José Gadea, Purificación Lisón, Ilse Kranner, Francisco Barro, Ramón Serrano, Isabel Molina, Eduardo Bueso*. Apoplastic lipid barriers regulated by conserved homeobox transcription 2 factors extend seed longevity in multiple plant species. New Phytologist (2021) Jul;231(2):679-694
Moret-Tatay I, Cerrillo E, Hervás D, Iborra M, Sáez-González E, Forment J, Tortosa L, Nos P, Gadea J*, Beltrán B*. Specific Plasma MicroRNA Signatures in Predicting and Confirming Crohn’s Disease Recurrence: Role and Pathogenic Implications. Clin Transl Gastroenterol. 2021 Oct 25;12(10):e00416
Isabel Faus, R. Niñoles, V. Kesari & J. Gadea*.The ABCF3 Gene of Arabidopsis Is Functionally Linked with GCN1 but Not with GCN2 During Stress and Development, 2021. Plant Mol Biol Rep (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-021-01283-w
Renard J, Niñoles R, Martínez-Almonacid I, Gayubas B, Mateos-Fernández R, Bissoli G, Bueso E, Serrano R*, Gadea J*. Identification of novel seed longevity genes related to oxidative stress and seed coat by genome-wide association studies and reverse genetics. Plan Cell and Environment 2020 Oct;43(10):2523-2539. doi: 10.1111/pce.13822.
Isabel Faus, Regina Niñoles, Susana Tárraga, Jose Gadea*. Proteomic analysis of the ila2 mutant of Arabidopsis links translational regulation with photosynthesis, protein folding and ribosomal proteins. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum 2020 42(4)
Renard, Joan; Martínez-Almonacid, Irene; Sonntag, Annika; Molina, Isabel; Moya-Cuevas, José; Bissoli, Gaetano; Munoz-Bertomeu, Jesus; Faus, Isabel; Niñoles, Regina; Shigeto, Jun; Tsutsumi, Yuji; Gadea, Jose; Serrano, Ramon; Bueso, Eduardo*. Peroxidases regulate the polyphenolics spectrum in seed coats to increase seed longevity. Plan Cell and Environment, 2020 Feb;43(2):315-326. doi: 10.1111/pce.13656.
Favaro MA, Molina MC, Roeschlin RA, Gadea J, Gariglio N, Marano MR*. Differen Responses in Mandarin Cultivars Uncover a Role of Cuticular Waxes in the Resistance to Citrus Canker, Phytopathology, 2020, Nov;110(11):1791-1801 CLAVE: A
de Luis B, Llopis-Lorente A, Rincón P, Gadea J, Sancenon F, Aznar E, Villalonga R, Murguía JR, Martínez-Máñez R*. An Interactive Model of Communication between Abiotic Nanodevices and Living Microorganisms. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 doi: 10.1002/anie.201908867
Roeschlin RA, Uviedo F, García L, Molina MC, Favaro MA, Chiesa MA, Tasselli S, Franco-Zorrilla JM, Forment J, Gadea J*, Marano MR*. PthA4(AT) , a 7.5-repeats transcription activator-like (TAL) effector from Xanthomonas citri ssp. citri, triggers citrus canker resistance. Molecular Plant Pathology. 2019 Jul 5. doi:10.1111/mpp.12844.
Paula Llabata, Julia Richter, Isabel Faus, Karolina M. Slominska-Durdasiak, Lukas H. Zeh, Jose Gadea, Marie-Theres Hauser*. Involvement of the eIF2a kinase GCN2 in UV-B responses 2019 Frontiers in Plant Sciences, Nov 28;10:1492. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01492.
Chiesa MA, Roeschlin RA, Favaro MA, Uviedo F, Campos-Beneyto L, D’Andrea R,Gadea J, Marano MR*. Plant responses underlying nonhost resistance of Citrus limon against Xanthomonas campestris pv. Campestris. Mol Plant Pathol. 2018 Sep 27.
Faus I, Niñoles R, Kesari V, Llabata P, Tam E, Nebauer SG, Santiago J, Hauser MT, Gadea J*. Arabidopsis ILITHYIA protein is necessary for proper chloroplast biogenesis and root development independent of eIF2α phosphorylation. Journal Plant Physiology. 2018 May – Jun;224-225:173-182.
Roeschlin RA, Favaro MA, Chiesa MA, Alemano S, Vojnov AA, Castagnaro AP, Filippone MP, Gmitter FG Jr, Gadea J*, Marano MR*. Resistance to citrus canker induced by a variant of Xanthomonas citri ssp. citri is associated with a hypersensitive cell death response involving autophagy-associated vacuolar processes. Mol Plant Pathol. 2017 Sep 20. doi: 10.1111/mpp.12489.
Amil-Ruiz F, Garrido-Gala J, Gadea J, Blanco-Portales R, Muñoz-Mérida A, Trelles O, de Los Santos B, Arroyo FT, Aguado-Puig A, Romero F, Mercado JÁ, Pliego-Alfaro F, Muñoz-Blanco J, Caballero JL*. Partial Activation of SA- and JA-Defensive Pathways in Strawberry upon Colletotrichum acutatum Interaction. Frontiers in Plant Sciences. 2016 Jul 15;7:1036
Faus I, Zabalza A, Santiago J, Nebauer SG, Royuela M, Serrano R, Gadea J*. Protein kinase GCN2 mediates responses to glyphosate in Arabidopsis. BMC Plant Biol. 2015 Jan 21;15:14. doi: 10.1186/s12870-014-0378-0.
Menacho-Márquez M, Rodríguez-Hernández CJ, Villaronga MÁ, Pérez-Valle J, Gadea J, Belandia B, Murguía JR*. eIF2 kinases mediate β-lapachone toxicity in yeast and human cancer cells. Cell Cycle. 2015;14(4):630-40. doi: 10.4161/15384101.2014.994904.
2015-2021
Título: Preventing HLB epidemics for ensuring citrus survival in Europe. Entidad financiadora: Comunidad Europea Convocatoria: H2020 H2020-SFS-2018-2020 Fechas: 01/05/2019 – 31/04/2022 Cuantía financiada: 150.000 Tipo de Participación: investigador principal
Título: Efectores de patógenos bacterianos de cítricos: función y aplicación como herramienta en el control de enfermedades del cultivo. Entidad financiadora: Agencia Nacional Argentina Convocatoria: PICT 2018 Fechas: 01/2018-12/2021 Cuantía: 39.000 Tipo de Participación: equipo investigador
Título: ABOD: Biotecnología para generar fertilizantes duales sobre el sistema suelo-planta. Entidad financiadora: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Convocatoria: Retos de Colaboración. Fechas: 01/01/2018 – 31/03/2021. Cuantía: 66.000 Tipo de Participación: investigador principal
Título: SEEDCOAT-BIO: Film-coating biológico de semillas: una nueva forma de fitomejora sostenible. Entidad financiadora: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Convocatoria: Retos de Colaboración. Fechas: 01/01/2018 – 31/05/2021; Cuantía: 150.000 Tipo de Participación: investigador principal
Título: Redes reguladoras de la longevidad de semillas que actúan a través de la permeabilidad de la cubierta, defensas antioxidantes y enzimas reparadoras. Entidad financiadora: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Convocatoria: Plan Nacional Proyectos de Excelencia. Fechas: 01/01/2017 – 31/12/2020. Cuantía: 193.000. Tipo de Participación: investigador principal
Título: Caracterización de las bases genéticas de la resistencia a la cancrosis de los cítricos mediada por un efector TAL PTHA4 truncado de una variante natural de Xanthomona citri subsp. Citri. Entidad financiadora: Agencia Nacional Argentina Convocatoria: PICT 2016. Fechas: 01/2016-12/2019. Cuantía: 35.000.Tipo de Participación: equipo investigador
Título: Regulacion del desarrollo de la cubierta de las semillas como herramienta para aumentar su longevidad; Entidad financiadora: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; Convocatoria: Plan Nacional Retos de la Sociedad; Fechas: 01/01/2015 – 31/12/2017; Cuantía: 170.000: Tipo de Participación: equipo investigador
Título: La homeostasis de cationes monovalentes (H+, K+, Na+) y el crecimiento y muerte celular. Entidad financiadora: Generalitat Valenciana. Conselleria de Educacion. Convocatoria: Prometeo. Fechas: 1/2014-12/2017. Cuantía 2014: 41.000.Tipo de Participación: equipo investigación
Título: Identificación y caracterización funcional de factores de virulencia de Candidatus L. asiaticus, agente causal del Huanglongbing. Entidad financiadora: Agencia Nacional Argentina. Convocatoria: PICT 2013. Fechas: 01/2015-12/2017. Cuantía: 35.000.Tipo de Participación: equipo investigador
2015-2021
Renard Meseguer, Joan. Identification of Genes Related To Seed Longevity In Arabidopsis Thaliana Using Genomic Molecular Techniques. 15/06/21
Faus Ferrer, María Isabel. Caracterización Del Sistema Gcn En Plantas Mediante La Utilización De Mutantes De Pérdida De Función. 29/09/20
María Celeste Molina. Identificación de factores de virulencia de Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, agente causal del Huanglongbing (HLB) de los cítricos, mediante análisis funcional en sistemas heterólogos. 25/06/2021