02/09 – SEMINÁRIO DE DADOS (Mestrado) – RAUL SIMON BATISTA

SEMINÁRIO DE DADOS (Mestrado)

RAUL SIMON BATISTA  

Phenotypic and Ionomic Analyses of Light Signaling Mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa

Orientador: Dr. Felipe dos Santos Maraschin

Avaliador: Dr. Thomaz Stumpf Trenz

02 de setembro de 2026 (quarta-feira)

12h

Presencial: Anfiteatro do Departamento de Genética da UFRGS (Campus do Vale, prédio 43312)

Abstract

Light perceived by the leaves, primarily through photoreceptors, plays a crucial role in regulating plant development, acting both as an energy source and a signaling component. Accumulated evidence suggests a critical role for light signaling in nutrient uptake and adaptive root growth, emphasizing the importance of long-distance shoot–root communication in coordinating developmental and physiological responses. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the crosstalk between light perception and nutrient homeostasis for essential nutrients such as iron, phosphorus, and nitrogen, are not yet fully understood.  Our research focus on the gap between photomorphogenic signaling, nutrient homeostasis and root development in eudicot and monocot model plants Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa, bridging a major knowledge gap between light signaling and plant mineral nutrition.

To map the influence of light signaling in the mineral profile of Arabidopsis, we performed ICP-MS ionome analysis of mutants affected in light perception and signaling pathways, which includes: photoreceptors such as phytochromes (PHY) and cryptochromes (CRY), as well as key regulatory components like phytochrome-interacting factors (PIFs), elongated hypocotyl 5 (HY5). Preliminary results indicate photoreceptors and PIF transcription factor involvement on manganese, iron, zinc, magnesium and potassium.

Concurrently, we used far-red light supplementation treatment as a tool to address phytochrome involvement on O. sativa growth responses in response to nutrient deficiencies. Our data indicate that far-red treatment represses both iron and nitrogen responses in O. sativa, highlighting the adaptative effect of photoreceptor activation and nutrient homeostasis.

Understanding how photomorphogenic signaling affects nutrient uptake is a key step toward the development of more sustainable strategies for globally relevant crop species. To this end, our next steps include further experiments using rice PHY and PIFs knockout lineages under different iron and nitrogen conditions. Furthermore, we aim to use the ionome data to guide new experiments in Arabidopsis to confirm the relationship between the mutant genotypes and nutrient uptake. Alongside this experimental work, we compiled an extensive literature review on the photoreceptor-dependent signaling pathways controlling uptake in plants.