About CAFTA

The abscisic acid (ABA) regulates plant growth and development as well as confers tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses. However, the ABA pathways that orchestrate plant growth especially floral transition under environmental stresses are poorly explored. Recently, we found that SnRK2s, core components of ABA signalling, are desensitized by HOS15, a novel E3 ligase component. Besides their positive roles in stress adaptation, SnRK2s negatively regulate plant developmental processes including flowering time through activation of ABI5-FLC module which delays floral transition.

ABI2, one of the major ABA signalling phosphatases, promotes floral transition as the knockout plants (abi2-2) show significantly late flowering. Previously, we have shown that ABI2 impairs SnRK2.6 stability, suggesting that ABI2 regulates flowering time by directly interacting with and dephosphorylating SnRK2s and ABI5 and thereby suppressing FLC indirectly.

Goals of CAFTA:

      • Identification of ABI2 protein interactors in flowering pathway using immunoprecipitation coupled to LC/MS/MS plants exposed to dehydration and temperature stress.
      • Studying the transcriptome reprogramming and metabolome rearrangements using using RNA-seq and GC/LS-MS, respectively, during normal and stress conditions.
      • Discovering the molecular switch that turn-off SnRK2s-activated ABI5-FLC module to promote floral transition and stress adaptation.
      • Unraveling the mechanism for SnRK2s and ABI5-FLC action under water limited condition and elevated temperatures.

Outcomes of CAFTA:

      • Let us understand how ABA modulate plant growth under drought or warmer temperatures;
      • Identify novel components of ABA signalling pathway in plant development;
      • Advance the present understanding of ABA signalling pathway by discovering its cross talk with flowering pathway in plants