Research Lines

The team

Post-embryonic plant development depends on small stem cell populations located in meristems. The shoot and root apical meristems (SAM and RAM) generate all aerial and underground organs, making them central hubs for growth regulation. Our research explores how meristem cells sense and integrate environmental and internal cues to adjust development under fluctuating conditions.

We focus on understanding how abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, or genotoxic agents influence meristem activity. Stress often triggers a reversible growth arrest in dividing SAM cells, a response that likely protects genome integrity and prevents mutation transmission to the next generation.

Interestingly, meristem responses vary across tissues and developmental stages — stress can inhibit or stimulate growth depending on context. By dissecting the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind these responses, we aim to reveal how meristem regulatory networks can be rewired to sustain growth under stress. Ultimately, this knowledge may guide the design of strategies to improve crop resilience and productivity in challenging environments.

Blázquez

Our selected papers

Meristem plasticity

Gastaldi

Muñoz

Jurado-García

Growth arrest is a DNA damage protection strategy in Arabidopsis

Serrano-Mislata A, Hernández-García J, de Ollas C, Blanco-Touriñán N, Jurado-García S, Úrbez C, Gómez-Cadenas A, Sablowski R, Alabadí D, Blázquez MA.

Nat Commun (2025) 16, 5635.