Assessment of changes in the carbon assimilation rates and lignin biosynthesis in Eucalyptus plants by plant phenotyping and targeted mass spectrometry analysis

• Grant number: 19/12580-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): August 14, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy
• Principal Investigator: Tiago Santana Balbuena
• Grantee: Amanda Cristina Baldassi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/15035-8 - Probing Eucalytpus plant performance to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels: the source/sink relationships unveiled by targeted proteomics approach, AP.JP2

Abstract

In the last decades, humanity has seen an unprecedented increase in the CO2 levels. Although being of major concern to all living organisms on Earth, this increasing CO2 scenario may be beneficial for most plant species, especially for those employing the C3 photosynthetic pathway as they depend on a high CO2:O2 ratio to counterbalance losses due to photorespiration process. In the present proposal, we aim to comprehensively investigate the morphological and biochemical responses of Eucalyptus plants cultivated in different CO2 environments. For that, Eucalyptus species will be cultivated in plant-growth and open-top chambers and phenotyped according to the following parameters: plant growth, photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, stomatal density/openness and cellulose and lignin content. Then, the chloroplast proteome and the plant stem proteins will be isolated and investigated in a targeted, non-biased, proteomics approach in order to quantify key enzymes and proteins/proteoforms specifically related to carbon assimilation and lignin biosynthesis. By the end of the project we expect to predict the Eucalyptus growth responses upon CO2 stimulus and to identify reaction bottlenecks of the carbon assimilation metabolism and lignin biosynthesis pathway. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

BALDASSI, Amanda Cristina. Metabolic alterations induced by environmental factors in leaves of Eucalyptus species: a proteomic approach. 2022. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias. Jaboticabal Jaboticabal.