Cassava

Vascular development

Evolution of signaling networks

Hormone signaling and plasticity

Hormone biotechnology

Gene expression regulation

Research Lines

The team

This research line is focused on the mechanism that underlies the high degree of plasticity of plant development. The kind of questions that drive our research are:

• How does the plant integrate all the environmental cues (light, temperature, etc) and endogenous signals (age, nutritional state, etc) to trigger the most appropriate developmental program in a given stage?

• How do plants distinguish between signals and noise?

• What is the adaptive value of the hormone signaling pathways that we know?

• What is the relevance of local hormone production or cell-type specific signaling?

Our hypothesis is that plasticity is inherent to the very architecture of the signaling networks: the extended connectivity between hormone and environmental signaling pathways provides robustness and flexibility to plant development. Almost all our current work is devoted to the study of gibberellins, auxins and brassinosteroids in Arabidopsis, and we use a combination of molecular genetic, biochemical, and genomic approaches.

A recent milestone in our research line has been the elucidation of the mechanism by which DELLA proteins act as molecular 'hubs' in the signaling networks that control plant responses to the environment. We have found that DELLA levels are the result of environmental conditions (light, temperature) in addition to the daily oscilation imposed by the circadian clock. And DELLAs, in turn, relay environmental information to the cell by interacting physically with a large number of transcription factors, thereby coordinating multiple cell responses.

We have also uncoupled the effects of local auxin biosynthesis versus auxin transport on certain developmental processes. Local auxin production in the root meristem is required and sufficient to maintain the root meristem viable.

Alabadí

Blázquez

Nohales

Mellado

Serrano-

Mislata

Our selected papers

DELLA proteins recruit the Mediator complex subunit MED15 to coactivate transcription in land plants

Hernández-García J, Serrano-Mislata A, Lozano-Quiles M, Úrbez C, Nohales MA, Blanco-Touriñán N, Peng H, Ledesma-Amaro R, Blázquez MA.

Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. (2024) 121, e2319163121.

COP1 destabilizes DELLA proteins in Arabidopsis

Blanco-Touriñán N, Legris M, Minguet EG, Costigliolo-Rojas C, Nohales MA, Iniesto E, García-León M, Pacín M, Heucken N, Blomeier T, Locascio A, Cerny M, Esteve-Bruna D, Díez-Díaz M, Brzbohaty B, Frerigmann H, Zurbriggen MD, Kay SA, Rubio V, Blázquez MA, Casal JJ, Alabadí D.

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2020) doi: 10.1073/pnas.1907969117

Regulation of xylem fibers differentiation by gibberellins through DELLA-KNAT1 interaction

Felipo-Benavent A, Úrbez C, Blanco-Touriñán N, Serrano-Mislata A, Baumberger N, Achard P, Agustí J, Blázquez MA, Alabadí D

Development (2018) 145, pii: dev164962.

Genome wide binding-site analysis reveals transcriptional co-activation of cytokinin-responsive genes by DELLA proteins.

Marin-de la Rosa NA, Pfeiffer A, Hill K, Locascio A, Bhalerao RP, Grønlund AL, Wanchoo-Kohli A, Thomas SG, Bennett MJ, Lohmann JU, Blázquez MA, Alabadí, D

PLoS Genet. (2015) 11, e1005337. 

The transcriptional regulator BBX24 impairs DELLA activity to promote shade avoidance in Arabidopsis thaliana

Crocco C, Locascio A, Escudero C, Alabadi D, Blázquez MA, Botto JF

Nat. Commun. (2015) 6, 6202. 

Large-scale identification of gibberellin-related transcription factors defines Group VII ERFs as functional DELLA partners

Marín-de la Rosa N, Sotillo B, Miscolczi P, Gibbs DJ, Vicente J, Carbonero P, Oñate-Sánchez L, Holdsworth MJ, Bhalerao R, Alabadí D, Blázquez MA

Plant Physiol. (2014) 166, 1022-1032.  

Genomic analysis of DELLA protein activity

Locascio A, Blázquez MA, Alabadí D

Plant Cell Physiol. (2013) 54, 1229-1237.  

Dynamic regulation of cortical microtubule organization through prefoldin-DELLA interaction

Locascio A, Blázquez MA, Alabadí D

Curr. Biol. (2013) 23, 804-809.   

Molecular mechanism for the interaction between gibberellin and brassinosteroid signaling pathways in Arabidopsis

Gallego-Bartolomé J, Minguet EG, Grau-Enguix F, Abbas M, Locascio A, Thomas SG, Alabadí D, Blázquez MA

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2012) 109, 13446-13451. 

Transcriptional regulation by DELLA proteins during etiolated development in Arabidopsis thaliana

Gallego-Bartolomé J, Alabadí D, Blázquez MA

PLoS ONE (2011) 6:e23918. 

Circadian oscillation of gibberellin signalling in Arabidopsis

Arana MV, Marín-de la Rosa N, Maloof JN, Blázquez MA, Alabadí D

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2011) 108, 9292-9297. 

Hormonal regulation of temperature-induced growth in Arabidopsis

Stavang J, Gallego-Bartolomé J, Gómez MD, Yoshida S, Asami T, Olsen JE, García-Martínez JL, Alabadí D, Blázquez MA

Plant J. (2009) 60, 589-601. 

A molecular framework for light and gibberellin cross-talk in the control of cell elongation

De Lucas M, Davière JM, Rodríguez-Falcón M, Pontín M, Iglesias-Pedraz JM, Lorrain S, Fankhauser C, Blázquez MA, Titarenko E, Prat S

Nature (2008) 451, 480-484. 

Gibberellins modulate light signaling pathways to prevent seedling de-etiolation in darkness

Alabadí D, Gallego-Bartolomé J, Orlando L, García-Cárcel L, Rubio V, Martínez C, Frigerio M, Iglesias-Pedraz JM, Espinosa A, Deng XW, Blázquez MA G

Plant J. (2008) 53, 324-335. 

Transcriptional regulation of gibberellin metabolism genes by auxin signaling in Arabidopsis

Frigerio M, Alabadí D, Pérez-Gómez J, García-Cárcel L, Phillips AL, Hedden P, Blázquez MA

Plant Physiol. (2006) 142, 553-563. 

Gibberellins repress photomorphogenesis in darkness

Alabadí D, Gil J, Blázquez MA, García-Martínez JL

Plant Physiol. (2004) 134, 1050-1057. 

Signaling for developmental plasticity

Casal J, Fankhauser C, Coupland G. Blázquez MA

Trends Plant Sci. (2004) 9, 309-314. 

> Hormones and differential growth

> Gibberellin / DELLA signaling

Auxin methylation is required for differential growth in Arabidopsis

Abbas M, Hernández-García J, Pollmann S, Samodelov SL, Kolb M, Friml J, Hammes UZ, Zurbriggen MD, Blázquez MA, Alabadí D

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. (2018) 115, 6864-6869.

Oxygen sensing coordinates photomorphogenesis to facilitate seedling survival

Abbas M, Berckhan S, Rooney D, Gibbs DJ, Vicente-Conde J, Marín-de la Rosa NA, Sousa-Correia C, Bassel GW, León J, Alabadí D, Blázquez MA, Holdsworth MJ

Curr. Biol. (2015) 25, 1483-1488. 

Differential growth at the apical hook: all roads lead to auxin

Abbas M, Alabadí D, Blázquez MA

Front. Plant Sci. (2013) 4, 441.  

Integral control during gravitropism through the interplay of hormonal signaling and gene regulation

Rodrigo G, Jaramillo A, Blázquez MA

Biophys. J. (2011) 101, 757-763. 

Polarization of PIN3-dependent auxin transport for shoot gravitropic response in Arabidopsis thaliana

Rakusova H, Gallego-Bartolomé J, Vanstraelen M, Robert HS, Alabadí D, Blázquez MA, Benkova E, Friml J

Plant J. (2011) 67, 817-826. 

Hierarchy of hormone action controlling apical hook development in Arabidopsis

Gallego-Bartolomé J, Arana MV, Vandenbussche F, Zadnikova P, Minguet EG, Guardiola V, Van der Straeten D, Benkova E, Alabadi D, Blázquez MA