Alessandro Franco
Mechanisms of tolerance in plants in response to Cu stress.
Supervisor : Nicola Tomasi
The continuous use of fungicides has caused copper (Cu) accumulation in soilsrepresenting a major environmental and toxicological concern in some agricultural fields.
Copper is a transition metal that participates in the plant to oxide-reductive reactions of biological importance such ad photosynthesis and mitochondrial respiration. However, Cu can be a potential toxicant at high concentrations causing morphological, anatomical and physiological changes in plants, decreasing both food productivity and quality.
In order to maintain the concentration of this micronutrient within physiological limits plants have developed homeostatic systems that allow to control the absorption and accumulation in different tissues and organs (Sancenon et al., 2003).
Thus, the aim of this project is to comprehend processes involved in plant Cu tolerance responses since they are the starting point to develop sustainable agronomical practices aimed at counteracting Cu accumulation in agricultural soils.
I start from the characterization of the physiological responses of selected crops treated with different levels of Cu both in controlled hydroponic conditions. In addition, the physiological responses of selected plants treated with different levels Cu in combination with nitrogen, sulphur and iron will also be characterized to assess the synergisms and/or antagonisms between nutrients. By in silico analysis, putative sequences involved in the Cu reduction will be identified and isolated. The functionality of the isolated protein will be tested by expression in heterologous systems.
Biography and contacts
Alessandro Franco was born in 1989 in Latisana, Italy. In 2012 graduated in Agricultural Science (103/110) and 2015 graduated in Agricultural Science and Technology Master (110/110 cum laude) at Udine University (Italy). In November 2015 he started the doctoral course at the PhD school “Agriculture Science and Biotechnology” at the University of Udine. Since January 2016 he is member of the Italian Organization of Agronomists (CONAF).