Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

My NSERC Discovery research program is focused on understanding the biosynthetic pathways, regulated production, and protective functions of plant surface lipids and fatty acid-derived volatile emissions. Our ultimate aim is to provide information and tools for the development of stress-tolerant crops. The improvement of crop drought tolerance is particularly attractive considering changing climate conditions are currently limiting agricultural production in large areas of the world, including Canada. Enhancing the natural defences of crops towards microbial pathogens and insects is also an important strategy in our efforts to reduce crop losses to disease. My research group uses a combination of genetic and biochemical approaches to study plant surface lipid production and function, largely in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana but also in select crops. In this funding period, my group will mostly focus on suberin production in roots. Suberin, also known as cork, is a lipid-phenolic polymeric barrier found in the cell walls of various external and internal tissues, including root endodermis and mature periderms (e.g. root surfaces, tuber skins and tree bark). Firstly, my research team will characterize the master regulators, specifically transcription factors, which control suberin production in specific tissues and in response to stress conditions. The identification of master regulators of suberin provides the means to generate crops that are more stress resistant and that sequester carbon underground via enhancement of their suberized cell walls. Secondly, we will dissect the relationship between root suberin deposition and plant microbiome composition through development and under various environmental conditions. A healthy plant microbiome is important for nutrient acquisition and disease resistance. Thirdly, we will characterize the activities of fatty acyl thioesterase enzymes that produce volatile fatty acids and methylketones in plant surface tissues, including uncovering the roles of these products in interactions with insects and microbes. These compounds have many commercial applications, for example as natural insecticides. Over the next 5 years, this research program will provide advanced training to a diverse group of 8 graduate (4 PhD, 4 MSc) and 15-20 undergraduate students in the areas of lipid biochemistry, genetic dissection, molecular biotechnology, and plant stress physiology. These skills have widespread applications in all areas of the life sciences, especially molecular biotechnology.