Speaker: Emilio Gutiérrez-Beltran

Associate Professor, Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis Institute (IBVF), Spanish National Research Council / University of Seville (Spain)

– Hosted by Professor Monika Chodasiewicz

Join us in auditorium 0215, between building 4 and 5 (light refreshments will be served)

or on Zoom

Abstract

Constant perception of the environment and stress adaptation are crucial for survival and driving forces of biological evolution. A eukaryotic conserved mechanism that responds to environmental signal perception and stress is the compartmentalization of proteins and mRNAs stalled in translation into cytoplasmic condensates, known as stress granules (SGs). The molecular mechanisms underlying SG assembly remain elusive. In a first study, we identified that Tudor staphylococcal nuclease (TSN) is an evolutionarily conserved protein required for the proper dynamics of SGs in plants (Gutierrez-Beltran et al., 2015). More recently, we have found that TSN is an intrinsically disordered protein acting as a scaffold for a large pool of conserved stress granule components as well as novel or plant-specific SG-localized proteins, including the evolutionarily conserved energy-sensing SNF1-related protein kinase 1 (SnRK1) (Gutierrez-Beltran et al., 2021). Our data demonstrate that TSN and formation of SGs confer heat-induced activation of the catalytic a-subunit (SnRK1a) of SnRK1 heterotrimeric complex, thus linking TSN and SGs to the energy status of the plant cells.

About the speaker

Emilio Gutiérrez-Beltran is an Associate Professor in the Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis Institute (IBVF), a joint center of the National Research Council and the University of Sevilla (Spain). He completed his PhD in plant pathogen interaction at the University of Sevilla and postdoctoral work at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala on protein condensates. Currently, his research focuses on unraveling the molecular pathways underlying the assembly of stress granules in plants.