Group of the role of phytohormones in the interaction with the environment

Research topics

We focus on the elucidation of plant defense mechanisms, with the aim to contribute to the development of effective strategies to enhance the stress tolerance of plants.

Due to their sessile character, plants had to evolve complex systems of defense against and adaption to variable and often unfavorable environmental conditions. These systems involve mechanisms to sense nutrient abundance or stress conditions and to generate and transduce signals, which result in the modulation of transcription and translation profiles and subsequently of metabolism, leading to effective changes in growth and development. The character of the individual responses depends on the type of stress, its strength, and duration, as well as on the physiological state of the plant, its developmental stage, and the strategy to cope with the particular stress.

Our main interest has been the evaluation of hormone functions in abiotic and biotic stress responses, namely their cross-talk, organ specificity, and dynamics during stress progression.

• Understanding of the mechanisms of stress responses
• Elucidation of the mode of action of acclimation
• Promotion of plant stress tolerance by growth regulators

Stress responses exhibit temporal and spatial dynamics, making them challenging to study.

• We investigate the phytohormonal role in response to water deficit, salinity, temperature stress, nutrient deficiency, or varying light intensity and quality.
• We evaluate the organ specificity of stress responses using detailed analyses of leaves, roots, and meristematic tissues.
• We have uncovered specific hormonal regulations associated with meristem protection and the critical role of roots in effective plant stress responses.
• We developed special thermoregulatory vessels to study shoot-root communication under temperature stress.

Based on our research and optimisation experiments, we obtained a deep knowledge of phytohormone changes under a wide range of abiotic stresses: drought, salinity, phosphate and nitrogen deficiency, ZnO nanoparticles, heat stress, cold stress, freezing stress, high/low light intensity, and exposure to different parts of light spectrum. Due to national and international collaborations, we also studied responses to biotic stresses: fungal infections, viruses, insects, nematodes, or wounding. Even though the main research in our group is carried out using the model plants Arabidopsis and rice, we have experience with other species as well (e.g., wheat, barley, and rapeseed).

Using our knowledge of hormonal changes during stress responses, we can modulate plant stress tolerance. We tend to find effective strategies for improving plant fitness using growth regulators. In the long term, we are testing cytokinins as promising stimulators of stress tolerance, which may have effects similar to acclimation by moderate stress.

Our team

Collaboration

We highly appreciate the existing collaboration with the colleagues at other scientific institutions, such as:

• University of North Carolina, USA – Prof. Joe Kieber
• Departments of Genetics and Plant Physiology, Agricultural Research Institute, Martonvásár, Hungary – Prof. Gábor Galiba, Dr. Tibor Janda, and Dr. Gabriela Szalai
• Texas Tech University, Texas, USA – Prof. Lam-Son Tran
• Research Centre Julich, Germany – Dr. Fabio Fiorani and Prof. Ulrich Schurr
• Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology, Moscow, Russia – Prof. Vladimir V. Kusnetsov

and with numerous colleagues in the Czech Republic as well as abroad.

Selected publications

Jarošová J., Prerostova S., Černý M., Dobrev P., Gaudinova A., Knirsch V., Kobzová E., Müller K., Fiala R., Benczúr K., Szalai G., Novák J., Brzobohatý B., Novak O., Vankova R. (2024) Hormonal responses of rice to organ-targeted cold stress. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 105739. doi: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2024.105739

Prerostova S., Rezek J., Jarosova J., Lacek J., Dobrev P., Marsik P., Gaudinova A., Knirsch V., Dolezal K., Plihalova L., Vanek T., Kieber J., Vankova R. (2023) Cytokinins act synergistically with heat acclimation to enhance rice thermotolerance affecting hormonal dynamics, gene expression and volatile emission. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 107683. doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.107683

Prerostova S., Dobrev P.I., Knirsch V., Jarosova J., Gaudinova A., Zupkova B., Prášil I.T., Janda T., Brzobohatý B., Skalák J., Vankova R. (2021) Light Quality and Intensity Modulate Cold Acclimation in Arabidopsis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22, 2736. doi: 10.3390/ijms22052736

Prerostova S., Zupkova B., Petrik I., Simura J., Nasinec I., Kopecky D., Knirsch V., Gaudinova A., Novak O., Vankova R. (2021) Hormonal responses associated with acclimation to freezing stress in Lolium perenne. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 182, 104295. doi: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2020.104295

Prerostova S., Dobrev P.I., Kramna B., Gaudinova A., Knirsch V., Spichal L., Zatloukal M., Vankova R. (2020) Heat acclimation and inhibition of cytokinin degradation positively affect heat stress tolerance of Arabidopsis. Frontiers in Plant Science, 11, 87. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.00087

Prerostova S., Kramna B., Dobrev P.I., Gaudinova A., Marsik P., Fiala R., Knirsch V., Vanek T., Kuresova G., Vankova R. (2018) Organ-specific hormonal cross-talk in phosphate deficiency. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 153, 198-208. doi: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2018.05.020

Prerostova S., Dobrev P.I., Gaudinova A., Knirsch V., Korber N., Pieruschka R., Fiorani F., Brzobohaty B., Cerny M., Spichal L., Humplik J., Schurr U., Vankova R. (2018) Cytokinins: their role in molecular and growth responses to drought stress and re-watering in Arabidopsis. Frontiers in Plant Science, 9, 655. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.00655

Prerostova S., Dobrev P.I., Gaudinova A., Hosek P., Soudek P., Knirsch V., Vankova R. (2017) Hormonal dynamics during salt stress responses of salt-sensitive Arabidopsis thaliana and salt-tolerant Thellungiella salsuginea. Plant Science, 264, 188-198. doi: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2017.07.020 Vankova R., Landa P., Podlipna R., Dobrev P., Prerostova S., Langhansova L., Gaudinova A., Motkova K., Knirsch V., Vanek T. (2017) ZnO nanoparticle effects on hormonal pools in Arabidopsis thaliana. Science of the Total Environment, 593, 535-542. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.160