LEGUSI

Artículos científicos

• Cobos-Porras L.; Rubia M.I.; Huertas R.; Kum D.; Dalton D.A.; Udvardi M.K.; Arrese-Igor C.; Larrainzar E. (2021) rontiers in Plant Science, 12, 686075 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.686075

Comunicaciones en congresos

• Dos comunicaciones en el XVIII National Meeting of the Spanish Society of Nitrogen Fixation (XVIII SEFIN), and I Spanish-Portuguese Congress on Beneficial Plant-Microbe Interactions (BeMiPlant) in Oeiras, Portugal, from October 17th to 19th 2022.
  • Oral presentation: “Is ethylene required for an active nitrogen fixation and nodule development in Medicago truncatula?” authored by Abin R, Rubia Ml, Gomez-Fernandez G, Zamarreño AM, Garcia-Mina JM, Arrese-lgor C, Larrainzar E, was presented in Session 6 – Genetics and “Omics” of Plants and Associated Microbes.
  • Poster: “Consensus identification and symbiotic transcriptional profile of ethylene biosynthesis genes in Medicago truncatula” authored by Gómez-Fernández, G, Rubia, M. I., Arrese-Igor, C., Kohlen, W., Larrainzar, E. was presented in Session 6 – Genetics and “Omics” of Plants and Associated Microbes.

Agriculture is one of the strategic pillars of the economy of Navarre. Current agriculture systems have a strong dependency on the use of nitrogen fertilisers, primarily nitrates, that when used in large quantities are associated with soil and water pollution, among other environmental problems. Leguminous crops are plants that can establish a symbiosis with fixing bacteria, which lets them obtain a strong source of nitrogen without needing external fertiliser.

Furthermore, legumes, the fruit of those plants, are an essential component of the agrifood chain, and they are one of the food groups whose consumption should be promoted as part of healthy nutrition. One of the factors that regulate the creation of the leguminous plant-rhizobium symbiosis is the vegetable hormone ethylene. Ethylene is a gas with numerous biotechnology applications. It participates in fruit ripening reactions, and in response to pathogens and various environmental stresses. For symbiosis with leguminous plants, the studies that have been done up to now have focused on their role while establishing the symbiosis. Nevertheless, preliminary studies suggest that they may be involved in the development of the nodule and maintaining nitrogen fixing. Furthermore, various international projects have shown that there is an interaction between ethylene and other hormones, like cytokinins, auxins or gibberellins in regulating the initial stages of symbiosis.  Despite that, the mechanisms by which they act and regulate the hormones between themselves has not been firmly established, and there are very few studies done with real measurements in vegetable tissue.

We did a study of the role of ethylene in this research project, in both later phases of the symbiosis and in response to drought, including its interaction with other vegetable hormones. To those ends, we did a physiological characterisation and study of the expression of several lines of the Medicago truncatula plant, which is model legume related with alfalfa, a forage legume and very important for agronomy. The collaboration between the two research teams from the UPNA and UNAV made it possible to integrate physiological analysis alongside expression profiles and measurements of vegetable hormones to generate results that are very interesting for understanding the bases for the establishment of a fixing symbiosis. With the financing we received, we were able to hire several researchers who were trained in this area of knowledge, and we generated results that are going to be published in specialised journals soon. Our research is aligned with several sustainable development goals, creating knowledge and promoting specialisation and training for researchers in Navarre.