Biology subjects

Blasco-Escamez, D.

Publications and source records attributed to Blasco-Escamez, D..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

The Arabidopsis dehydrin ERD14 chaperones the BRL3 receptor to confer drought resistance

Brassinosteroid plant hormones are involved in growth, biotic and abiotic-stress signaling, but functional analysis of its multiple receptors has largely focused on the ubiquitously expressed BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BR1). The vascular-expressed brassinosteroid receptor kinase BRI1-LIKE 3 (BRL3) has a specific and essential role in Arabidopsis adaptation to drought and elevated temperature. However, the mechanistic understanding of BRL3 function and regulation is scant. Here, we show the dehydrin ERD14 colocalizes with BRI1 and BRL3 at the plasma membrane and physically interacts with these receptors through the ERD14Lys domain for proper receptor recruitment. erd14 mutants internalize BRL3-GFP and revert drought-resistant BRL3 over-expression phenotypes. BRL3 activation and downstream signaling events, including dephosphorylation of BES1 transcription factor, depend on the chaperone function of ERD14. Our study shows how proper chaperoning by ERD14 regulates BRL3 subcellular localization and activity of the vascular receptor, prompting re-examination of models of brassinosteroid-receptor functional diversification in plant adaptation to abiotic stress from specific cells of the vascular systems.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Molecular and physiological characterization of brassinosteroid receptor BRI1 mutants in Sorghum bicolor

SUMMARYO_LIThe high sequence and structural similarities between BRI1 brassinosteroid receptors of Arabidopsis (AtBRI1) and sorghum (SbBRI1) prompted us to study the functionally conserved roles of BRI in both organisms. C_LIO_LIIntroducing sorghum SbBRI1 in Arabidopsis bri1 mutants restores defective growth and developmental phenotypes to WT levels. C_LIO_LISorghum mutants for SbBRI1 receptors show defective BR sensitivity and impaired growth and development throughout the entire sorghum life cycle. Embryonic analysis of sorghum primary roots permit to trace back root growth and development to early stages, revealing the functionally conserved roles of SbBRI1 receptor in BR perception during meristem development. RNA-seq analysis uncovers the downstream regulation of the SbBRI1 pathway in cell wall biogenesis during cell growth. C_LIO_LITogether, these results uncover that sorghum SbBRI1 receptor protein play functionally conserved roles in plant growth and development, while encourage the study of BR pathways in sorghum and its implications for improving resilience in cereal crops. C_LI

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Vascular brassinosteroid receptors confer drought resistance without penalizing plant growth

Drought represents a major threat to food security. Mechanistic data describing plant responses to drought have been studied extensively and genes conferring drought resistance have been introduced into crop plants. However, plants with enhanced drought resistance usually display lower growth, highlighting the need for strategies to uncouple drought resistance from growth. Here, we show that overexpression of BRL3, a vascular-enriched member of the brassinosteroid receptor family, can confer drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. Whereas loss-of-function mutations in the ubiquitously expressed BRI1 receptor leads to drought resistance at the expense of growth, overexpression of BRL3 receptor confers drought tolerance without penalizing overall growth. Systematic analyses reveal that upon drought stress, increased BRL3 triggers the accumulation of osmoprotectant metabolites including proline and sugars. Transcriptomic analysis suggests that this results from differential expression of genes in the vascular tissues. Altogether, this data suggests that manipulating BRL3 expression could be used to engineer drought tolerant crops.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2018

MyROOT: A novel method and software for the semi-automatic measurement of plant root length

Root analysis is essential for both academic and agricultural research. Despite the great advances in root phenotyping and imaging however, calculating root length is still performed manually and involves considerable amounts of labor and time. To overcome these limitations, we have developed MyROOT, a novel software for the semi-automatic quantification of root growth of seedlings growing directly in agar plates. Our method automatically determines the scale from the image of the plate, and subsequently measures the root length of the individual plants. To this aim, MyROOT combines a bottom-up root tracking approach with a hypocotyl detection algorithm. At the same time as providing accurate root measurements, MyROOT also significantly minimizes the user intervention required during the process. Using Arabidopsis, we tested MyROOT with seedlings from different growth stages. Upon comparing the data obtained using this software with that of manual root measurements, we found that there are no significant differences (t-test, p-value < 0.05). Thus, MyROOT will be of great aid to the plant science community by permitting high-throughput root length measurements while saving on both labor and time.

plant biology↗