How bacteria increase plant growth during drought conditions

How can plant research contribute to developing drought-tolerant plants? The doctoral student Büsra Elkatmis from the Institute for Plant Sciences (UoC) investigates genes and their growth-promoting effect under drought stress.

Planter’s Punch

Under the heading Planter’s Punch we present each month one special aspect of the CEPLAS research programme. All contributions are prepared by our early career researchers.

About the author

Büsra Elkatmis is a doctoral researcher in the group of Stan Kopriva at the Institute for Plant Sciences (UoC). She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics in Turkey and became a part of CEPLAS Graduate School in 2021. She collaborates with Heribert Hirt's group at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) as part of her doctoral project. In her PhD project, she is investigating the genes and mechanisms involved in the beneficial effects of Pseudomonas argentinensis SA190 under drought stress.

Further Reading

Lafi, F. F., Alam, I., Geurts, R., Bisseling, T., Bajic, V. B., Hirt, H., & Saad, M. M. (2016). Draft genome sequence of the phosphate-solubilizing bacterium Pseudomonas argentinensis strain SA190 isolated from the desert plant Indigofera argentea. Genome Announcements, 4(6). doi.org/10.1128/genomeA.01431-16

Alwutayd, K. M., Rawat, A. A., Sheikh, A. H., Almeida‐Trapp, M., Veluchamy, A., Jalal, R., Karampelias, M., Froehlich, K., Alzaed, W., Tabassum, N., Schley, T. R., Schäffner, A. R., Daur, I., Saad, M. M., & Hirt, H. (2023). Microbe‐induced drought tolerance by ABA ‐mediated root architecture and epigenetic reprogramming. EMBO Reports. doi.org/10.15252/embr.202256754