Plant Biochemistry

This research area investigates the application of histochemical staining and microscopic imaging methods to precisely localize metals and oxidative stress markers within plant tissues. Understanding metal uptake, compartmentalization, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation is critical for elucidating plant responses to environmental stress such as heavy metal toxicity. Histochemistry complements biochemical quantification by providing spatial cellular context, facilitating targeted analysis of physiological and developmental processes under biotic and abiotic stress.

This theme focuses on integrating plant in vitro culture techniques with high-throughput omics technologies and bioinformatics to dissect and manipulate metabolic pathways. PCTOC provides a versatile platform for morphological, physiological, and molecular investigations allowing for controlled studies and metabolic engineering. Coupled with the availability of large-scale genomic and metabolomic databases, these methodologies enable identification of bioactive secondary metabolites, regulation mechanisms under stress, and production optimization for commercial biotechnology.

This research area explores the intersection of plant metabolomics and the functional trait framework to characterize biochemical diversity and its ecological significance. Using chemoinformatics descriptors to reduce complex metabolite datasets into discriminant metabolic functional traits allows quantifying metabolome variation orthogonal to classical morphological and physiological traits. This approach enables identification of new axes of biochemical specialization related to plant defense and longevity, thus expanding plant life-history conceptions and potentially informing breeding and conservation strategies.

This theme examines the roles of plant hormones such as salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), ethylene, abscisic acid (ABA), and brassinosteroids in orchestrating defense responses to pathogens, pests, and environmental stressors. Crosstalk between signaling pathways modulates expression of defense genes, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, and antioxidant enzyme activities. The mechanisms include hormone biosynthesis, receptor-mediated signaling cascades, transcription factor activation, and feedback regulation that together enable plants to mount effective stress tolerance and immune responses.

The theme addresses the consequences of modulation of central metabolic enzymes, such as PEPC, on primary and secondary metabolism in plants. PEPC catalyzes anaplerotic fixation of carbon, impacting amino acid synthesis, organic acid pools, and energy metabolism. Genetic engineering of PEPC influences seed storage compounds, plant growth, and stress responses, but may induce complex pleiotropic effects. Understanding these effects informs metabolic engineering strategies aimed at improving crop yield, stress tolerance, and nutritional quality.

This research focuses on the development and application of high-throughput analytical technologies such as GC-MS, LC-MS, NMR, and capillary electrophoresis-MS for plant metabolite profiling. The integration of metabolomics with genomics and transcriptomics augments functional gene annotation and metabolic pathway elucidation. Such approaches facilitate the identification of metabolic biomarkers associated with agronomic traits, enabling marker-assisted selection and genome editing strategies for improved crop yield, quality, and stress adaptability.