Metabolomics for cadmium stress response: focus on grafted tomato plants

• Grant number: 22/11018-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: April 26, 2023
• End date: April 25, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Antunes de Azevedo
• Grantee: Deyvid Novaes Marques
• Supervisor: Aleksandra Skirycz
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/12666-7 - Tissue-specific modulation of the proteome, phytoquelatin synthesis, and activity of antioxidant enzymes of tomato in response to Cd, by using reciprocal grafting, BP.PD

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal that poses a potential risk to human health through crop plants. Cd is considered a major environmental pollutants and is known to affect metabolic processes in living organisms. Given the importance of tomato with regards to food security and safety goals, our work has been focusing on Cd tolerance mechanisms in this crop species. By using grafted tomato plants, our study has been providing more information on response of plants to Cd and has been using several approaches to identify mechanisms of Cd tolerance in crop plants. For this purpose, we been performing different approaches, including studies on antioxidant enzymes. In order to increase insights into Cd tolerance mechanisms in grafted tomato plants, the aim of this project is to perform metabolomic analysis in leaves of grafted tomato plants, using reciprocal grafting, under Cd stress conditions. We propose a partnership with Prof. Aleksandra Skirycz (from the Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, New York state, United States of America). The Boyce Thompson Institute is a premier life sciences research institution affiliated with Cornell University (which, together with other prestigious universities such as Harvard and Princeton, is an Ivy League school) and integrated to its research infrastructure. Cornell is classified as one of the world's best universities in agricultural and plant sciences. Prof. Aleksandra Skirycz (previous Group Leader and PhD in the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Germany) is a reference for researchers that study plant metabolites. The relevance of this project is related to organ-specific metabolite regulation as well as new potential insights into the influence of sensitive and tolerant rootstock on the leaf metabolome of tomato plants under Cd stress. Of worthy mention, studies on metabolomics of grafted tomato plants and published in high impact scientific journal are non-existent. Thus, we will publish a pioneering study on metabolomics of grafted tomato genotypes under Cd stress conditions. The identification of Cd tolerance mechanisms can be used in crop managing and plant breeding programs. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MARQUES, DEYVID NOVAES; NOGUEIRA, MARINA LIMA; GAZIOLA, SALETE APARECIDA; BATAGIN-PIOTTO, KATHERINE DERLENE; FREITAS, NATALIA CHAGAS; ALCANTARA, BERENICE KUSSUMOTO; PAIVA, LUCIANO VILELA; MASON, CHASE; PIOTTO, FERNANDO ANGELO; AZEVEDO, RICARDO ANTUNES. New insights into cadmium tolerance and accumulation in tomato: Dissecting root and shoot responses using cross-genotype grafting. Environmental Research, v. 216, p. 14-pg., 2023-01-01. (20/12666-7, 22/11018-7, 17/05544-0, 18/20706-9, 21/06117-3, 16/05788-3, 16/14349-3)

MARQUES, DEYVID NOVAES; MASON, CHASE; STOLZE, SARA CHRISTINA; HARZEN, ANNE; NAKAGAMI, HIROFUMI; SKIRYCZ, ALEKSANDRA; PIOTTO, FERNANDO ANGELO; AZEVEDO, RICARDO ANTUNES. Grafting systems for plant cadmium research: Insights for basic plant physiology and applied mitigation. Science of The Total Environment, v. 892, p. 18-pg., 2023-06-09. (22/11018-7, 21/06117-3, 20/12666-7, 17/05544-0, 18/22671-8, 18/20706-9)