Grant: Canada Research Chairs

In nature, plants are often exposed to environmental stresses that reduce their growth and survival rates. To better understanding how plants withstand stress conditions, one must learn the specialized mechanisms by which plant cells sense stress signals and activate physiological processes to minimize cellular damage. This project uses interdisciplinary approaches to understand how sub-cellular structures, known as Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) - Plasma Membrane (PM) Contact Sites, coordinate cellular stress responses by regulating molecular exchanges at the ER-PM interface. The characterization of this adaptive sub-cellular response to stress will provide genetic targets for the future biotechnological development of stress tolerant crops.