Dr. M. (Moe) Abbas

Hugo R. Kruytgebouw
Padualaan 8
Kamer O.204
3584 CH Utrecht

Dr. M. (Moe) Abbas

Universitair docent
Plant Stress Resilience
m.abbas@uu.nl

"Plants that live at high altitudes are exposed to various stressful conditions: Low partial pressure of gases, high exposure to UV light, extreme variations in temperatures, strong winds and fluctuating moisture conditions."

But how do plants coordinate all these environmental changes?

 

Plants living at high altitudes face a complex set of environmental challenges that demand significant adaptations to survive and thrive. These challenges include reduced oxygen availability (hypoxia), increased exposure to harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and consistently lower temperatures. Each factor presents unique physiological and molecular obstacles that plants must overcome to maintain growth, reproduction, and survival in these extreme conditions. However, how plants integrate and coordinate their responses to such diverse and often conflicting signals remains a mystery.

Our research aims to unravel the molecular mechanisms, genetic foundations, and environmental interactions that enable plants to adapt to high-altitude environments. By studying the signaling pathways, gene regulatory networks, and adaptive traits associated with altitude tolerance, we hope to gain a comprehensive understanding of how plants respond to these stresses. 

High-altitude environments provide a natural laboratory to study how plants respond to extreme conditions such as low oxygen levels, high UV radiation, and cold temperatures. By exploring these adaptations, researchers can uncover fundamental insights into the interplay between plants and their environments, deepening our knowledge of evolutionary processes and resilience mechanisms. This research is crucial for understanding how ecosystems function in these unique regions and how they might respond to ongoing changes in climate. Additionally, studying altitude adaptation can shed light on the broader principles of plant survival under stress, offering valuable perspectives on biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of fragile high-altitude ecosystems.

By focusing on altitude-specific adaptations, we aim to bridge the gap between basic science and practical applications, offering solutions to some of the most pressing issues in modern agriculture and environmental sustainability.

Our research interest currently is to understand the following:

-  How do plants integrate all the environmental (oxygen, light, temperature, etc) and endogenous signals (hormones, age, nutritional state, etc) to coordinate the most appropriate developmental program in a given stage?

- What are the adaptive values of growing at different altitudes?

- What central role does the PCO branch of the N-degron pathway play in altitude adaption?