Regulatory mechanisms underlying chilling responses: towards the design of climate-smart plants

Objective

Temperature instability caused by climate change, including milder winters and unseasonal frosts, pose a growing threat to global agriculture. Temperate plants acquire freezing tolerance through a process called cold acclimation, triggered by the gradual decreasing temperatures of autumn and early winter. However, rising winter temperatures disrupt this natural adaptation, leaving crops increasingly vulnerable to sudden frost events. Addressing this challenge is critical for developing resilient cultivars capable of withstanding extreme weather conditions. The primary goal of tuneCHILL is to pioneer innovative strategies for inducing plant cold acclimation at higher temperatures. This project builds on the hypothesis that chilling-responsive gene networks can be reprogrammed to activate under milder conditions by leveraging the regulatory mechanisms underlying plant cold responses. Drawing on my expertise in transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of plant adaptation to winter, and supported by promising preliminary data, I propose an integrative research programme to uncover novel pathways modulating plant chilling responses. Using the model species Arabidopsis thaliana and the crop model Fragaria vesca (woodland strawberry), I aim to: 1. Identify and manipulate key factors that suppress the chilling response under moderate cold conditions. 2. Reengineer non-coding regulatory sequences to enhance F. vesca adaptation to warmer winters. 3. Discover small peptides capable of stimulating cold acclimation in crops, independent of low-temperature exposure. This ambitious research programme will provide transformative insights into the regulation of chilling responses in plants. By developing practical tools and strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change, tuneCHILL will contribute to the creation of climate-smart crops, advancing agricultural sustainability and resilience in an era of increasing temperature extremes.