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Dr. Santiago Alejandro

Research

I studied Biology at the University of La Molina in Peru before I moved to Valencia in Spain for my PhD. The aim of my PhD thesis was the identification of novel regulators of salinity, potassium transport, and cation toxicity. My research interests at that time were focused on plant transporters and abiotic stress. After my PhD defense, I moved to the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at Zurich, under the supervision of Enrico Martinoia, where I worked on the importance of ABC transporters in drought and lignin biosynthesis. My interest in plant transporters led me to work with Catherine Curie (Iron Signaling Group, BPMP-Montpellier, France). My main goal in her group was to decipher critical steps in the regulation and mediation of manganese (Mn) transport into the model plant Arabidopsis. In particular, I proposed some approaches aimed at understanding the roles played by the plant cellular compartments in Mn homeostasis. In this context, we found that the Mn transporter AtNRAMP2 is required for Mn distribution to different organelles. I then joined the Stress Signaling Group of Dr Heribert Hirt in Saclay-Paris, to participate in a collaborative project to analyze the Arabidopsis phosphoproteome upon early time pathogen infection. This innovative project was designed to obtain the time course fluctuations of PTMs after abiotic stresses. Currently, I am continuing my research on plant transporters in the Halle Plant Nutrition Laboratory focusing on manganese homeostasis and cadmium accumulation in crop and model species. In a project that is part of a State Research Focus Programme, we functionally characterize manganese transporters of sugar beet and determine molecular factors of manganese efficiency of this crop by Genome Wide Association (GWAS) analysis. Furthermore, we recently initiated a collaborative project    within the ScienceCampus Halle    to understand the mechanisms of cadmium accumulation by cereals and to reduce cadmium accumulation in grains by genome editing and harnessing natural variation.

Publications

Alejandro S, Meier B, Hoang MTT, Peiter E (2023). Cation Diffusion Facilitators of Beta vulgaris reveal diversity of metal handling in dicotyledons. Plant, Cell and Environment 46, 1629-1652.

Olt P, Alejandro S, Fermum J, Ramos E, Peiter E, Ludewig, U (2022). The vacuolar transporter LaMTP8.1 detoxifies manganese in leaves of Lupinus albus. Physiologia Plantarum174, e13807. DOI: 10.1111/ppl.13807.

He J, Rössner N, Hoang MTT, Alejandro S, Peiter E (2021). Transport,  functions, and interactions of calcium and manganese in plant organellar  compartments. Plant Physiology 187, 1940-1972.

Alejandro S, Höller S, Meier B, Peiter E (2020). Manganese in plants: from acquisition to subcellular allocation. Frontiers in Plant Science 11, 300.

Aryal B, Huynh J, Schneuwly J, A Siffert A, Liu J, Alejandro S, Ludwig-Müller J, Martinoia E,  Geisler M (2019). ABCG36/PEN3/PDR8 is an exporter of the auxin precursor, indole-3-butyric acid, and involved in auxin-controlled development. Frontiers in Plant Science 10, 899.

Sayas E, Pérez-Benavente B, Manzano C, Farràs R, Alejandro S, Del Pozo JC, Ferrando A, Serrano R (2019). Polyamines interfere with protein ubiquitylation and cause depletion of intracellular amino acids: a possible mechanism for cell growth inhibition. FEBS Letters 593, 209-218.

Völz R, Kim SK, Mi J, Mariappan KG, Guo X, Bigeard J, Alejandro S, Pflieger D, Rayapuram N, Al-Babili S, Hirt H (2018). The Trihelix transcription factor GT2-like 1 (GTL1) promotes salicylic acid metabolism, and regulates bacterial-triggered immunity. PLoS Genetics 14, e1007708.

Alejandro S, Cailliatte R, Alcon C, Dirick L, Domergue F, Correia D, Castaings L, Briat JF, Mari S, Curie C (2017). Intracellular distribution of manganese by the trans-Golgi network transporter NRAMP2 is critical for photosynthesis and cellular redox homeostasis. The Plant Cell 29, 3068-3084.

Planes MD, Niñoles R, Rubio L, Bissoli G, Bueso E, García-Sánchez MJ, Alejandro S, Gonzalez-Guzmán M, Hedrich R, Rodriguez PL, Fernández JA, Serrano R (2015). A mechanism of growth inhibition by abscisic acid in germinating seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana based on inhibition of plasma membrane H⁺-ATPase and decreased cytosolic pH, K⁺, and anions. Journal of Experimental Botany 66, 813-825.

Niñoles R, Rubio L, García-Sánchez MJ, Fernández JA, Bueso E, Alejandro S, Serrano RA (2013). Dominant-negative form of Arabidopsis AP-3 β-adaptin improves intracellular pH homeostasis. Plant Journal 74, 557-568.

Alejandro S, Lee Y, Tohge T, Sudre D, Osorio S, Park J, Bovet L, Lee Y, Geldner N, Fernie AR, Martinoia E (2012). AtABCG29 is a monolignol transporter involved  in lignin biosynthesis. Current Biology 22, 1207-1212.

Kim DY, Jin JY, Alejandro S, Martinoia E, Lee Y (2010). Overexpression of AtABCG36 improves drought and salt stress resistance in Arabidopsis. Physiologia Plantarum 139, 170-180

CV

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