REMIND – Do crop plants remember stress? Effect of water stress memory on crop resilience in response to recurrent drought and recovery events
Under the ongoing climate change scenario, improving plant adaptation to drought for preserving crop harvests is a challenging need. Plants have evolved different strategies to cope with environmental stresses and, although still debated, it was observed that they can remember past stress occurrence.
Grapevine and tomato are two of the most economically important crops worldwide, which are heavily impacted by environmental variables. Although anatomical and physiological adjustments have been observed in grapevine after recurrent exposure to drought, full characterization of epigenetic and transcriptional changes following repeated drought episodes is still lacking. Also in tomato, drought-primed ecological memory has been poorly studied.
The overarching aim of REMIND is to test whether exposure to repeated events of mild drought can prime plants to counteract effects of severe drought. Particularly, we are going to investigate whether the expected improved eco-physiological tolerance of drought-primed plants depends on either molecular memory, resulting in distinct epigenetic signatures, or on resetting of stress-induced signals through transcriptional reprogramming. To elucidate which of the above strategies is established, we will compare such responses in grapevine and tomato plants. A combined multidisciplinary approach, involving eco-physiological, anatomical, biochemical and molecular analyses will be adopted to fulfill these purposes. The integration of physiological and molecular data will provide an in-depth understanding on how recurrent mild drought events prime crop drought adaptation.
The gained information will deliver a predictive framework to estimate the impact of moderately dry periods on crop performance, considering memory-associated protective effects against drought. REMIND outcomes will also offer a valuable background to estimate the feasibility of water withholding practices in the field as sustainable, precision technique to prime crop adaptation to climate-change effects.
Principal investigator:
Chiara Pagliarani
Funding:
European Union through the Next-Generation EU programme [Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR), Missione 4 Istruzione e Ricerca, Componente 2 Dalla ricerca all’impresa, Investimento 1.1 Fondo per il Programma Nazionale della Ricerca (PNR) e Progetti di Ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN)]
Start date: 12/10/2023
End date: 11/10/2025
Headquarter: Turin Headquarter
Research activity:
Abiotic and biotic stresses linked to global climate change (CLIMA)
Research staff:
Perrone Irene
Gambino Giorgio
Boccacci Paolo
Moine Amedeo
Giulia Giannetti
Chitarra Walter
Nerva Luca
Technical support: Luca Bordone
Amministrative support: Concetta Mottura, Josè Saporita, Danila Fiaschi, Annalisa Cozzolino, Anna Romagnoli