Plant stress responses across five species

The Z1 project investigates how five plant species (sea rocket, quinoa, barley, pondweed, and seagrass) respond to combined biotic and abiotic stressors through integrated transcriptome and metabolome analysis. Plants face biotic stress from pathogens, triggering immune responses like pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and the production of antimicrobial compounds. Abiotic stress, such as heat or drought, affects metabolism, photosynthesis, and hormone signaling. Combined stressors can lead to unique responses, as signaling pathways overlap and resource allocation is adjusted to balance survival and defense. The project aims to uncover shared and species-specific stress response mechanisms and identify core metabolic pathways involved in plant adaptation. Its four main objectives are: (1) to generate high-quality metabolome and transcriptome data through a coordinated experimental design, (2) to develop consistent data processing pipelines for cross-species comparability, (3) to apply systems biology to identify physiological responses and resource allocation strategies, and (4) to explore how aquatic species like pondweed and seagrass adapt to stress.