ERC Consolidator Grant - ETHYLUTION

All plants produce ethylene, an important volatile hormone that regulates development and responses towards (a)biotic stress. However, not all plants produce ethylene using the same pathway. We know that seed plants use ACC as a direct precursor for ethylene synthesis, but recent studies have suggested that ACC can also signal independent of ethylene in plants. We now want to reveal how plants perceive and signal ACC and how this ACC-pathway contributes to plant development. We also want to reveal the ethylene biosynthesis pathway of plants that do not use ACC as precursor, but have a different route for ethylene synthesis. These novel pathways will be discovered and characterized using different plant species and we will place this cross-species study in an evolutionary context to try to understand what the role of ethylene and ACC is during plant evolution and stress adaptation.