I am BSc in Biology by the Universidad de Valencia (Spain, 2004) and PhD in Biotechnology by the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Spain, 2011). During my PhD, in the lab of Dr. José León (IBMCP, Spain), I studied the connections between nitric oxide (NO) and the phytohormones abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberelllins (GAs) and their involvement in plant development and stress tolerance. After my PhD, I joined the lab of Prof. Sean Cutler (University of California, Riverside, US), to gain experience in chemical genetics and ABA signaling. During my postdoc I became interested in the regulation of ABA receptors in crop plant species (maize, soybean, setaria and switchgrass) and I developed high-throughput chemical screening assays to identify novel ABA-receptor agonists in economically relevant plant species. Additionally, I set up genome editing protocols to generate mutants in dicots and monocots. Since I returned to Spain, to the lab of Prof. Pedro L. Rodíguez (IBMCP, Spain), in 2016 I have obtained funding to support my independent research line. First, with a Juan de la Cierva Incorporación (2016) and next with a Marie Curie Re-Integration grant (2017-2019). My goal is to generate biochemical, genetic and structural data on crop ABA receptors and exploit it to identify synthetic ligands able to activate drought resistance in the field. We have discovered some promising molecules able to activate ABA signaling in crops. I am collaborating with organic chemists and structural biologists to improve the potency of these compounds using structure-guided drug design. Alternatively we are also exploring the chemical space through a chemoinformatic approach using in silico pharmacophore screening and docking refinement to identify novel chemical scaffolds to control ABA signaling on demand.
Projects:
6. Structure-guided drug design and identification of new drug targets to improve drought tolerance in crops. RYC2020-029097-I. 01/01/2022 – 31/12/26. IP: Jorge Lozano-Juste. Entidades participantes: IBMCP-UPV-CSIC (España). Fuente de financiación: Ayudas Ramon y Cajal. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.
5. Mejora de la tolerancia a la sequía de plantas de cosecha usando nuevas moléculas químicas. GV/2020/159. 01/01/2020-31/12/2021. IP: Jorge Lozano-Juste. Entidades participantes: IBMCP-CSIC-UPV (España). Fuente de financiación: Proyectos de I+D+i desarrollados por Grupos de Investigación Emergentes. Generalitat Valenciana.
4. Improvement of rice varieties, using CRISPR/Cas9, to obtain drought and salt tolerant plants. FONDOCYT2018 2C1-182 01/01/2020-31/12/2022. IP: Sttefany Rosario Co-IP: Jorge Lozano-Juste, Concha Domingo y Luis Matos. Entidades participantes: Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (República Dominicana), IBMCP-CSIC-UPV (España), IVIA (España). Fuente de financiación: FONDOCYT 2019.
3. Desarrollo de agroquímicos para mejorar la resistencia a la sequía de plantas de cosecha. SP20180340 (PAID-06-18). 01/01/2019 – 31-12-2020. IP: Jorge Lozano-Juste. Entidades participantes: IBMCP-CSIC-UPV. Fuente de financiación: Universidad Politécnica de Valencia.
2. DroughtDrugs: a drug discovery approach to improve drought resistance in crop plants. RTC-2017-6019-2. 05/12/2018 – 31/12/2021. IP: GalChimia S.A. Entidades participantes: GalChimia S.A., CiQUS-USC, CiMUS-USC, IQFR-CSIC, IBMCP-CSIC-UPV. Fuente de financiación: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Fondos FEDER. Coordinador técnico: Jorge Lozano-Juste
1. DrugCrops: Drug discovery to improve drought tolerance in crops. H2020-MSCA-707477. 01/05/2017-30/05/2019. IP: Jorge Lozano-Juste. Entidades participantes: CiQUS-USC, IQFR-CSIC, IBMCP-CSIC-UPV. Fuente de financiación: European Union H2020-Marie Curie.
¤ Corresponding author.
** Equal contribution.
31. Franco-Aragón D, García-Maquilón I, Manicardi A, Rodriguez PL, Lozano-Juste J¤. Evaluation of the anti-transpirant activity of ABA-receptor agonists in monocot and eudicot plants. Environmental Responses in Plants Methods and Protocols (Ed. Paula Duque, Dóra Szakonyi). Methods in Molecular Biology. 2022; 1064-3745, vol 2494, ISBN 978-1-0716-2296-4.
30. Lourdes Infantes**, Maria Rivera-Moreno**, MiguelDaniel-Mozo, Juan Luis Benavente, Javier Ocaña, Alberto Coego, Jorge Lozano-Juste, Pedro L. Rodriguez and Armando Albert. Structure-based modulation of the ligand sensitivity of a tomato dimeric abscisic acid receptor through a Glu to Asp mutation in the latch loop. Front. Plant Sci. 2022; 13:884029. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.884029
29. PYL1- and PYL8-like ABA Receptors of Nicotiana benthamiana Play a Key Role in ABA Response in Seed and Vegetative Tissue. Cells. 2022 Feb 24;11(5):795. doi: 10.3390/cells11050795.
28. Coego A, Julian J, Lozano-Juste J, Pizzio GA, Alrefaei AF, Rodriguez PL. Ubiquitylation of ABA Receptors and Protein Phosphatase 2C Coreceptors to Modulate ABA Signaling and Stress Response. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jul 1;22(13):7103.doi: 10.3390/ijms22137103.
27. Ruiz-Partida R, Rosario SM, Lozano-Juste J¤. An Update on Crop ABA Receptors. Plants (Basel). 2021 May 28;10(6):1087. doi: 10.3390/plants10061087.
26. García-Maquilón I, Coego A, Lozano-Juste J, Messerer M, de Ollas C, Julian J, Ruiz-Partida R, Pizzio G, Belda-Palazón B, Gomez-Cadenas A, Mayer KFX, Geiger D, Alquraishi SA, Alrefaei AF, Ache P, Hedrich R, Rodriguez PL. PYL8 ABA receptors of Phoenix dactylifera play a crucial role in response to abiotic stress and are stabilized by ABA. J Exp Bot. 2021 Feb 2;72(2):757-774. doi: 10.1093/jxb/eraa476.
25. García-Maquilón I, Rodriguez PL, Vaidya AS, Lozano-Juste J¤. A luciferase reporter assay to identify chemical activators of ABA signaling. Plant Chemical Genomics Methods and Protocols (Ed. Glenn Hicks and Chunhua Zhang). Methods in Molecular Biology. 2021;2213:113-121. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0954-5_10.
24. Lozano-Juste J¤, García-Maquilón I**, Brea J**, Piña R, Albert A, Rodriguez PL, Loza MI. Identification of ABA receptor agonists using a multiplexed high-throughput chemical screening. Plant Chemical Genomics Methods and Protocols (Ed. Glenn Hicks and Chunhua Zhang). Methods in Molecular Biology. 2021;2213:99-111. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0954-5_9.
23. Lozano-Juste J, Alrefaei AF, Rodriguez PL. Plant Osmotic Stress Signaling: MAPKKKs Meet SnRK2s. Trends Plant Sci. 2020 Dec;25(12):1179-1182. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2020.09.003.
22. Lozano-Juste J¤, García-Maquilón I, Ruiz-Partida R, Rodriguez PL. Drug Discovery for Thirsty Crops. Trends Plant Sci. 2020 Sep;25(9):844-846. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2020.07.001.
21. Fernandez MA**, Belda-Palazon B**, Julian J, Coego A, Lozano-Juste J, Inigo S, Rodriguez L, Bueso E, Goossens A, Rodriguez PL. RBR-type E3 ligases and the Ub-conjugating enzyme UBC26 regulate ABA receptor levels and signaling. Plant Physiol. 2019 Nov 7. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00898.
20. Lozano-Juste J¤, Masi M, Cimmino A, Clement S, Fernández MA, Antoni R, Meyer S, Rodriguez PL, Evidente A¤. The fungal sesquiterpenoid pyrenophoric acid B uses the plant ABA biosynthetic pathway to inhibit seed germination. J Exp Bot. 2019 Oct 15;70(19):5487-5494. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erz306.
19. Julian J**, Coego A**, Lozano-Juste J, Lechner E, Wu Q, Zhang X, Merilo E, Belda-Palazon B, Park SY, Cutler SR, An C, Genschik P, Rodriguez PL. The MATH-BTB BPM3 and BPM5 subunits of Cullin3-RING E3 ubiquitin ligases target PP2CA and other clade A PP2Cs for degradation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Jul 30;116(31):15725-15734. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1908677116.
18. Belda-Palazon B, Gonzalez-Garcia MP, Lozano-Juste J, Coego A, Antoni R, Julian J, Peirats-Llobet M, Rodriguez L, Berbel A, Dietrich D, Fernandez MA, Madueño F, Bennett MJ, Rodriguez PL. PYL8 mediates ABA perception in the root through non-cell-autonomous and ligand-stabilization-based mechanisms. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Dec 11;115(50):E11857-E11863. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1815410115.
17. Vaidya AS, Peterson FC, Yarmolinsky D, Merilo E, Verstraeten I, Park SY, Elzinga D, Kaundal A, Helander J, Lozano-Juste J, Otani M, Wu K, Jensen DR, Kollist H, Volkman BF, Cutler SR. A Rationally Designed Agonist Defines Subfamily IIIA Abscisic Acid Receptors As Critical Targets for Manipulating Transpiration. ACS Chem Biol. 2017 Nov 17;12(11):2842-2848. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.7b00650.
16. Moreno-Alvero M, Yunta C, Gonzalez-Guzman M, Lozano-Juste J, Benavente JL, Arbona V, Menéndez M, Martinez-Ripoll M, Infantes L, Gomez-Cadenas A, Rodriguez PL, Albert A. Structure of Ligand-Bound Intermediates of Crop ABA Receptors Highlights PP2C as Necessary ABA Co-receptor. Mol Plant. 2017 Sep 12;10(9):1250-1253. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2017.07.004.
15. Ling Y, Alshareef S, Butt H, Lozano-Juste J, Li L, Galal AA, Moustafa A, Momin AA, Tashkandi M, Richardson DN, Fujii H, Arold S, Rodriguez PL, Duque P, Mahfouz MM. Pre-mRNA splicing repression triggers abiotic stress signaling in plants. Plant J. 2017 Jan;89(2):291-309. doi: 10.1111/tpj.13383.
14. Lozano-Juste J, Cutler SR. Hormone signalling: ABA has a breakdown. Nat Plants. 2016 Sep 6;2(9):16137. doi: 10.1038/nplants.2016.137.
13. Castillo MC**, Lozano-Juste J**, González-Guzmán M, Rodriguez L, Rodriguez PL, León J. Inactivation of PYR/PYL/RCAR ABA receptors by tyrosine nitration may enable rapid inhibition of ABA signaling by nitric oxide in plants. Sci Signal. 2015 Sep 1;8(392):ra89. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.aaa7981.
12. Rodriguez PL, Lozano-Juste J. Unnatural agrochemical ligands for engineered abscisic acid receptors. Trends Plant Sci. 2015 Jun;20(6):330-2. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2015.04.001.
11. Lozano-Juste J, Cutler SR. Plant genome engineering in full bloom. Trends Plant Sci. 2014 May;19(5):284-7. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2014.02.014.
10. León J, Castillo MC, Coego A, Lozano-Juste J, Mir R. Diverse functional interactions between nitric oxide and abscisic acid in plant development and responses to stress. J Exp Bot. 2014 Mar;65(4):907-21. doi: 10.1093/jxb/ert454.
9. Gibbs DJ, Md Isa N, Movahedi M, Lozano-Juste J, Mendiondo GM, Berckhan S, Marín-de la Rosa N, Vicente Conde J, Sousa Correia C, Pearce SP, Bassel GW, Hamali B, Talloji P, Tomé DF, Coego A, Beynon J, Alabadí D, Bachmair A, León J, Gray JE, Theodoulou FL, Holdsworth MJ. Nitric oxide sensing in plants is mediated by proteolytic control of group VII ERF transcription factors. Mol Cell. 2014 Feb 6;53(3):369-79. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2013.12.020.
8. Mosquna A, Peterson FC, Park SY, Lozano-Juste J, Volkman BF, Cutler SR. Potent and selective activation of abscisic acid receptors in vivo by mutational stabilization of their agonist-bound conformation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Dec 20;108(51):20838-43. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1112838108.
7. Peto A, Lehotai N, Lozano-Juste J, León J, Tari I, Erdei L, Kolbert Z. Involvement of nitric oxide and auxin in signal transduction of copper-induced morphological responses in Arabidopsis seedlings. Ann Bot. 2011 Sep;108(3):449-57. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcr176.
6. Lozano-Juste J, León J. Nitric oxide regulates DELLA content and PIF expression to promote photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 2011 Jul;156(3):1410-23. doi: 10.1104/pp.111.177741.
5. Lozano-Juste J, Colom-Moreno R, León J. In vivo protein tyrosine nitration in Arabidopsis thaliana. J Exp Bot. 2011 Jun;62(10):3501-17. doi: 10.1093/jxb/err042.
4. Alvarez C**, Lozano-Juste J**, Romero LC, García I, Gotor C, León J. Inhibition of Arabidopsis O-acetylserine(thiol)lyase A1 by tyrosine nitration. J Biol Chem. 2011 Jan 7;286(1):578-86. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M110.147678.
3. Lozano-Juste J, León J. Nitric oxide modulates sensitivity to ABA. Plant Signal Behav. 2010 Mar;5(3):314-6.
2. Lozano-Juste J, León J. Enhanced abscisic acid-mediated responses in nia1nia2noa1-2 triple mutant impaired in NIA/NR- and AtNOA1-dependent nitric oxide biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 2010 Feb;152(2):891-903. doi: 10.1104/pp.109.148023.
1. March-Díaz R, García-Domínguez M, Lozano-Juste J, León J, Florencio FJ, Reyes JC. Histone H2A.Z and homologues of components of the SWR1 complex are required to control immunity in Arabidopsis. Plant J. 2008 Feb;53(3):475-87.