Plant Nutrition - PLANTNUT

Plant nutrition is a major research area in Plant Sciences, with implications for agriculture, biotechnology and food production. Understanding how plants acquire, transport and distribute mineral nutrients helps to optimize plant growth, to improve the production of sustainable and nutritious crops, and also to adapt agricultural practices for climate change and for protecting the soil and ecosystems.

The Plant Nutrition research group studies plant metal micronutrients, in particular zinc. We investigate how plants sense their cellular zinc status and further regulate their zinc transport mechanisms to obtain an adequate zinc supply.

This research is based on our previous discoveries that the transcription factors bZIP19 and bZIP23 from the model Arabidopsis thaliana are major regulators of zinc homeostasis, with a dual role as zinc sensors and key regulators of the response to zinc deficiency. More information at: https://plantnutrition.at.biopolis.pt/