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What is DECIPher?

Plants usually live in groups of the same or different species, and communicate with each other by emitting and perceiving Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), constituting a complex alphabet that allows them to be aware of different environmental stimuli, such as the proximity of other plants or a pathogen threat. Our goal is to help DECIPher this complex language and learn the specific VOC-based responses in plants.

DECIPher builds upon the foundational work established by the ENIGmA project which explored plant-to-plant communication mediated by volatile organic compounds. This project aims to further investigate how plants, as receivers of specific VOCs, decode and integrate VOC-containing information to enhance their acclimation capacity.

What we are doing

Built on the ENIGmA project, the main objective of DECIPher is to explore how receiver plants decode and integrate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) signals to enhance their acclimation to environmental challenges. The project is structured around four interconnected specific objectives:

Integrate Data and Advanced Analyses

Analyze and integrate transcriptomic and metabolomic data from the ENIGmA project and newly generated datasets, with a focus on how emitter plants (tomato) exposed to single or combined environmental challenges “communicate” with nearby receiver plants (Arabidopsis) through VOC signaling.

Explore Glycoside-Conjugated VOCs

Reexamine data from the emitters in ENIGmA project with a focus on a new class of GbVOCs hypothesized to represent a plant strategy for stabilizing and safely storing highly reactive defense chemicals at concentrations effective for combating biotic stressors. These GbVOCs will be also explored in receivers. This objective aims to investigate the potential role of GbVOCs in interplant communication and their influence on the physiological responses of receiver plants.

Decode Mechanisms in Receiver Plants

Uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying VOC perception and signal transduction in receiver plants. By conducting 3D protein modeling and ligand docking simulations, new RNA-Seq analyses in receivers, and functional validation of candidate genes previously obtained or newly proposed, this objective aims to identify the specific receptors, transporters, and/or signaling pathways involved in VOC-mediated communication.

Develop Field Applications of VOC-Based Strategies

Leverage insights from the ENIGmA and DECIPher to develop and validate VOC-based solutions in receiver plants, for sustainable crop management under field conditions. This includes testing the use of VOCs as natural elicitors of plant defenses, evaluating their potential in intercropping systems to promote tolerances to stresses, and exploring GbVOCs -based formulations for controlled VOC release.