Function and regulation of plant aquaporins
Terrestrial plants depend on a supply of water for their growth and development, and have elaborated strategies to achieve water balance in the most adverse environments. The discovery of aquaporins that facilitates the movement of water across cellular membranes, provides a unique molecular point of entry to study plant water relations.
Plants appear to express a surprisingly high number of aquaporin homologues. Interestingly, some of them have the ability to facilitate the membrane diffusion other small uncharged solutes.
The research projects developed in the team aim at understanding the function and regulation of plant AQPs at the cellular level and in the whole plant subjected to various environmental conditions.
In this purpose, a multidisciplinary range of molecular, cellular, biochemical, biophysical and physiological approaches are used.