Person: González García, Esther
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González García
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Esther
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Ciencias
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IMAB. Research Institute for Multidisciplinary Applied Biology
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0000-0002-1379-9398
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Publication Open Access Unlocking nature's drought resilience: a focus on the parsimonious root phenotype and specialised root metabolism in wild Medicago populations(Springer Nature, 2024-10-28) Calleja Satrustegui, Aitziber; Echeverría Obanos, Andrés; Ariz Arnedo, Idoia; Peralta de Andrés, Francisco Javier; González García, Esther; Ciencias; Zientziak; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMAB; Unviersidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate PublikoaBackground and aims: crop wild relatives, exposed to strong natural selection, exhibit effective tolerance traits against stresses. While an aggressive root proliferation phenotype has long been considered advantageous for a range of stresses, it appears to be counterproductive under drought due to its high metabolic cost. Recently, a parsimonious root phenotype, metabolically more efficient, has been suggested to be better adapted to semiarid environments, although it is not clear that this phenotype is a trait exhibited by crop wild relatives. Methods: firstly, we analysed the root phenotype and carbon metabolism in four Medicago crop wild relatives adapted to a semiarid environment and compared them with the cultivated M. truncatula Jemalong (A17). Secondly, we exposed the cultivated (probably the least adapted genotype to aridity) and the wild (the most common one in arid zones) M. truncatula genotypes to water deficit. The carbon metabolism response in different parts of their roots was analysed. Results: a reduced carbon investment per unit of root length was a common trait in the four wild genotypes, indicative of an evolution towards a parsimonious root phenotype. During the water deficit experiment, the wild M. truncatula showed higher tolerance to drought, along with a superior ability of its taproot to partition sucrose and enhanced capacity of its fibrous roots to maintain sugar homeostasis. Conclusion: a parsimonious root phenotype and the spatial specialization of root carbon metabolism represent two important drought tolerance traits. This work provides relevant findings to understand the response of Medicago species roots to water deficit.Publication Open Access Potencialidades del frijol caupí para la resiliencia al cambio climático en sistemas agrícolas locales(2022) Santana-Baños, Yoerlandy; González García, Esther; Ariz Arnedo, Idoia; Carrodeguas Díaz, Sergio; Ciencias; ZientziakLas evidencias científicas sugieren tres usos fundamentales del frijol caupí, con agro-ecológicas y beneficios productivos, sociales y ambientales en los sistemas agrícolas locales; sin embargo, su rendimiento a nivel mundial y en América no experimenta crecimiento en los últimos años. Los resultados obtenidos en Pinar del Río, Cuba, sugieren la posibilidad de emplearlo como alternativa para la producción de grano pero debe fomentarse, desde la ciencia, la innovación y las instituciones y órganos de decisión a nivel local, la cultura de producción y consumo de esta leguminosa para su aprovechamiento en la sostenibilidad agrícola de los agro-ecosistemas.Publication Open Access iNaturalist Arga: acercándonos a la biodiversidad de los ríos urbanos para aprender a cuidarlos(Fundación Conama, 2021) González García, Esther; Peralta de Andrés, Francisco Javier; García, Mar; Alzueta, José; Fernández Escalada, Manuel; Marzo Pérez, Asier; Aliende, Andrea; Miguel, Jon; Alvira Guallart, María Aránzazu; Ciencias; Zientziak; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua, CENEDUCA3-2019La biodiversidad es un concepto que forma parte del currículo de la educación secundaria. Las herramientas TIC (Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación) colaborativas abiertas disponibles ofrecen nuevas posibilidades para el ampliar el conocimiento sobre biodiversidad de los estudiantes de secundaria y futuros ciudadanos. Este estudio utiliza la plataforma de ciencia ciudadana iNaturalist como herramienta de utilidad en el currículo sobre biodiversidad incluido en la educación secundaria obligatoria. En este contexto, se ha creado un proyecto en esta plataforma centrado en el río Arga que atraviesa la ciudad de Pamplona: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/arga. El proyecto implica a centros de educación secundaria, formación profesional y educación ambiental para realizar observaciones sobre biodiversidad en el entorno dicho río. Su objetivo es mejorar el conocimiento de los estudiantes de educación secundaria del concepto biodiversidad así como del río, además de poner en valor este ecosistema fluvial en un entorno urbano en las futuras generaciones. El proyecto fue puesto en marcha en el curso 2019-2020 e incorpora 468 observaciones de 213 especies aportadas por 39 observadores y 140 identificadores han colaborado en su validación. Aunque la participación en ese curso fue limitada a un centro educativo como consecuencia de la pandemia COVID, esta experiencia ha servido como modelo para el futuro desarrollo del proyecto. En el curso 2020-2021 se vuelve a poner en marcha el proyecto ARGA con el objetivo de establecerse como una herramienta de referencia para la comunidad educativa y de conectar el sector educativo con la sociedad en torno al concepto biodiversidad para destacar su importancia en la calidad ambiental en medios urbanos.Publication Open Access Drought stress tolerance in plants(MDPI, 2023) González García, Esther; Ciencias; Zientziak; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMABThe current climate change scenario is accelerating degradation, desertification, and salinisation: all destructive processes that are negatively impacting arable lands and food production. This is particularly important when considering how the world population shows a marked positive trend. This scenario leads to flooding and decreasing water quality, but also to a decrease in the availability of water resources in some regions. More than ever, drought is a significant threat to agriculture worldwide. This Special Issue focuses on recent advances in the mechanisms involved in the drought tolerance of crop plants, with particular attention to the role of the root tissue and shoot¿root interactions. In addition to drought, it considers other abiotic stresses involving water deficit stress at the cell level and their interactions with drought. The Special Issue includes a review paper and a collection of scientific papers that approach drought stress in cereals, legumes, and trees, combining studies in cultivated, wild, and model plants. Overall, this issue remarks the role of transcriptions factors (bHLH, NAC, HD-ZIP III), leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases, cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, and U-box E3 ligases in drought stress responses at different levels. In addition, the interaction between plant nutrition and drought stress responses is approached with a physiological strategy.Publication Open Access Root system of Medicago sativa and Medicago truncatula: drought effects on carbon metabolism(Springer, 2021-03-18) Echeverría Obanos, Andrés; González García, Esther; Ciencias; Zientziak; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMABAims: Here, we assess the differential impact of drought on root carbon metabolism in the widely cultivated alfalfa (Medicago sativa, Ms) and the model legume Medicago truncatula (Mt). Understanding how carbon allocation is regulated under drought stress conditions is a central issue to improving alfalfa productivity under future climate change scenarios. Methods: Alfalfa and Medicago truncatula were compared under water deficit conditions. Root carbon metabolism of the taproot and fibrous roots was analysed. M. truncatula drought tolerance variability was compared to that of alfalfa using six accessions of the Medicago Hapmap project. The prominent taproot is much less developed in M. truncatula than in alfalfa with the former exhibiting an extensive fibrous root system. Results: In both examined Medicago species the taproot contained the major pools of soluble protein, sucrose and pinitol, whereas the major pools of hexoses and carbon metabolism enzymes appeared to be in the fibrous roots. Under water-deficit conditions, the response of M. sativa strongly differed from that of M. truncatula at the root level. Conclusions: Water deficit conditions differentially modulate the root carbon metabolism of M. sativa and M. truncatula. Mt maintained a more active carbon metabolism in the fibRs, as sucrose, myo-inositol and pinitol accumulated to cope with the water deficit (WD). Conversely, the root system of Ms did not accumulate cyclitols and carbon metabolism was more severely affected under water deficit conditions. This differentially exerted control may determine the drought response of these two close relatives.Publication Open Access Phloem sap proteins are part of a core stress responsive proteome involved in drought stress adjustment(Frontiers Media, 2021-01-02) Castañeda Presa, Verónica; González García, Esther; Wienkoop, Stefanie ; Ciencias; Zientziak; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMAB; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate PublikoaDuring moderate drought stress, plants can adjust by changes in the protein profiles of the different organs. Plants transport and modulate extracellular stimuli local and systemically through commonly induced inter- and intracellular reactions. However, most proteins are frequently considered, cell and organelle specific. Hence, while signaling molecules and peptides can travel systemically throughout the whole plant, it is not clear, whether protein isoforms may exist ubiquitously across organs, and what function those may have during drought regulation. By applying shotgun proteomics, we extracted a core proteome of 92 identical protein isoforms, shared ubiquitously amongst several Medicago truncatula tissues, including roots, phloem sap, petioles, and leaves. We investigated their relative distribution across the different tissues and their response to moderate drought stress. In addition, we functionally compared this plant core stress responsive proteome with the organ-specific proteomes. Our study revealed plant ubiquitous protein isoforms, mainly related to redox homeostasis and signaling and involved in protein interaction networks across the whole plant. Furthermore, about 90% of these identified core protein isoforms were significantly involved in drought stress response, indicating a crucial role of the core stress responsive proteome (CSRP) in the plant organ cross-communication, important for a long-distance stress-responsive network. Besides, the data allowed for a comprehensive characterization of the phloem proteome, revealing new insights into its function. For instance, CSRP protein levels involved in stress and redox are relatively more abundant in the phloem compared to the other tissues already under control conditions. This suggests a major role of the phloem in stress protection and antioxidant activity enabling the plants metabolic maintenance and rapid response upon moderate stress. We anticipate our study to be a starting point for future investigations of the role of the core plant proteome. Under an evolutionary perspective, CSRP would enable communication of different cells with each other and the environment being crucial for coordinated stress response of multicellular organisms.Publication Open Access Proyecto río Arga: ciencia ciudadana, biodiversidad & educación(2022) González García, Esther; Peralta de Andrés, Francisco Javier; Ciencias; Zientziak; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua, CENEDUCA3-2019El objetivo del proyecto ARGA, desarrollado en la plataforma iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/arga), es reunir observaciones de las especies presentes en el río Arga a su paso por la Cuenca de Pamplona. Cualquier persona puede participar, aunque en su creación se ha pensado en su utilización principalmente por estudiantes de Enseñanza Secundaria. Este proyecto se lleva a cabo en colaboración con la Mancomunidad de la Comarca de Pamplona a través del programa Mancoeduca, que ofrece actividades de educación ambiental dirigidas a centros de educación secundaria en el entorno del río Arga.Publication Open Access Medicago sativa and Medicago truncatula show contrasting root metabolic responses to drought(Frontiers Media, 2021) Echeverría Obanos, Andrés; Larrainzar Rodríguez, Estíbaliz; Li, Weiqiang; Watanabe, Yasuko; Sato, Muneo; Tran, Cuong Duy; Moler Cuiral, José Antonio; Hirai, Masami; Sawada, Yuji; Tran, Lam-Son; González García, Esther; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMAB; Estadística, Informática y Matemáticas; Estatistika, Informatika eta Matematika; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate PublikoaDrought is an environmental stressor that affects crop yield worldwide. Understandingplant physiological responses to stress conditions is needed to secure food in futureclimate conditions. In this study, we applied a combination of plant physiology andmetabolomic techniques to understand plant responses to progressive water deficitfocusing on the root system. We chose two legume plants with contrasting toleranceto drought, the widely cultivated alfalfa Medicago sativa (Ms) and the model legume Medicago truncatula (Mt) for comparative analysis. Ms taproot (tapR) and Mt fibrous root (fibR) biomass increased during drought, while a progressive decline in wáter content was observed in both species. Metabolomic analysis allowed the identificationof key metabolites in the different tissues tested. Under drought, carbohydrates, abscisic acid, and proline predominantly accumulated in leaves and tapRs, whereas flavonoids increased in fibRs in both species. Raffinose-family related metabolites accumulated during drought. Along with an accumulation of root sucrose in plants subjected to drought, both species showed a decrease in sucrose synthase (SUS) activity related to a reduction in the transcript level of SUS1, the main SUS gene. This study highlights the relevance of root carbon metabolism during drought conditions and provides evidence on the specific accumulation of metabolites throughout the root system.Publication Open Access Learning plant biodiversity in nature: the use of the citizen–science platform iNaturalist as a collaborative tool in secondary education(MDPI, 2021) Echeverría Obanos, Andrés; Ariz Arnedo, Idoia; Moreno Echeverría, Judit; Peralta de Andrés, Francisco Javier; González García, Esther; Zientziak; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMAB; Ciencias; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua, CENEDUCA3/2019Biodiversity is a concept of great scientific interest and social value studied in different subjects of the secondary education curriculum. Citizen–science programs may contribute to increasing the engagement of students when studying biodiversity. This work aimed to explore the use of the citizen–science platform iNaturalist as a complement of the elaboration of herbaria in an outdoor activity for 4th course 16-year-old students in the Basaula Reserve. The platform iNaturalist was chosen for its suitability to develop collaborative projects in an educational context. The Basaula project was created and 122 students were trained to record plant species in an outdoor activity. A total of 32 species were recorded, among them the most abundant were beech (Fagus sylvatica) and holm oak (Quercus ilex). The students positively evaluated their experience, highlighting its adequacy to record biodiversity data and make a virtual herbarium. Students valued the innovative character of iNaturalist and its usefulness for research but also the opportunity to integrate mobile devices in school education. We concluded that iNaturalist is a valuable tool to carry out collaborative projects dealing with biodiversity in secondary education.Publication Open Access Editorial: Drought stress in legumes(Frontiers Media, 2022) Furlan, Ana Laura; González García, Esther; Roy Choudhury, Swarup; Signorelli, Santiago; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMAB; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate PublikoaPlants are challenged by diverse environmental constraints, among which drought stress is increasingly important. Meteorological models predict an increase in the areas prone to drought in the future. Legumes are important sources of fiber, oils, and protein, constituting an essential amenity in the global economy. Additionally, legumes contribute to nitrogen input in the biosphere due to their ability to establish symbiotic interactions with diazotrophs, collectively named rhizobia. Therefore, efforts to decipher the molecular, metabolic, physiological, and agronomic responses are crucial contributing novel strategies to aid drought tolerance in legumes. This Research Topic contains articles either providing new findings or discussing the latest research concerning drought research in legumes, including one mini-review on soybean tolerance to drought (Arya et al.) and seven original research papers dealing with strategies to confer drought tolerance such as priming (Zhou et al.); studies on intraspecific variation in traits associated with drought tolerance (Prince et al.); the analysis of water use efficiency under terminal drought (Polania et al.); and the contribution of a legume dehydrin to drought tolerance (Sun et al.); the functional characterization of a LOX gene family (Mou et al.); the functional analysis of a soybean APETALA2/ETHYLENE RESPONSIVE FACTOR (AP2/ERF) (Wang et al.); and a study on AP2/ERF gene family in a tolerant desert legume (Zhao et al.).