In order to devise rational strategies to improve stress tolerance of crop plants, it is mandatory to deeply understand the cellular and molecular events during plant responses to abiotic and biotic stress.
The overall aim of the group is the identification and functional characterization of gene and protein functions that limit plant productivity under stressed and non-stressed conditions, as well as of novel molecular and metabolic components of stress signalling and acclimation.
To achieve this goal, we use a combination of molecular and cell biology approaches in conjunction with model systems (e.g. Arabidopsis thaliana) as well as crop plants (e.g. pepper and tomato) to gain fundamental insight into regulatory networks underlying environmental adaptations. We are working on three main subjects: (1) Identification and characterisation of novel components of SnRK1/low-energy signalling, (2) the use of microbial effector proteins to probe plant cellular and metabolic functions, and (3) the role of regulated protein turnover in plant environmental adaptation. One of the future aims is to merge these research avenues in a project investigating the cross regulation of growth and defence.
