Group leader: Teresa Altabella & Albert Ferrer

Research project:

The role of glycosylated sterols in tomato lipid raft organization and the root exudation process.

Research project proposed: The levels of glycosylated sterols (GS), which are key components of the plasma membrane (PM) lipid rafts, vary greatly among plant species and in response to developmental and environmental cues. Tomato plants contains very high levels of GS, and our research interest is to elucidate their role in determining the lipid and protein composition of lipid rafts and, consequently, in the structure and the organization of these specialized PM subdomains. We offer a systems biology-based PhD project in which the combined use of transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics and metagenomics in tomato mutants with altered GS profiles will contribute new and fundamental information on the role of these lipids in governing PM properties and, consequently, PM-based plant cell functions and physiological processes, with special emphasis on their role in the root exudation process and its potential impact on the microbial communities living in the tomato rhizosphere.

Key publication

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2022.105181

Potential collaborations with other research groups

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