11 July 2024 – The Atacama Desert is one of the most inhospitable places on earth, yet for new EMBO Associate Member Rodrigo Gutiérrez it is a unique natural laboratory for learning how plants optimize nutrient uptake and adapt to extreme conditions. “The Atacama Desert is the oldest and driest non-polar desert on earth: that makes it a perfect place to study how plants can survive and thrive in harsh environments,” says Gutiérrez, who is a professor at the Faculty of Biological Sciences, at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, in Santiago.
“We use model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana – also known as thale cress – to understand how plants sense and respond to nitrogen nutrients, nitrate in particular. On the other hand, we also study wild species in the Atacama Desert to understand the mechanisms enabling them to withstand harsh conditions such as low water, high altitudes, high levels of radiation, and high salinity. We know little about these extremophile plants, yet some are important as food or are related to common crops. Through this work, we aim to create resilient crops and help reduce the negative environmental impacts of fertilisers, for instance by improving the efficiency of plants’ nitrogen use. Our work can help farming communities adapt to climate change impacts such as desertification, for example by understanding adaptive mechanisms that enable plant species to survive in extreme conditions.”
Gutiérrez’s team pioneered the use of systems approaches in plant sciences, integrating high-throughput data, advanced bioinformatics and classical molecular genetics methods. “This allows us to explore a wide range of topics, from how nutrient signals interact with other signalling pathways to coordinate gene expression in plant cells, to organismal and ecological processes which can inform advances in biotechnology,” he says. “As an EMBO Associate Member, I hope to contribute my knowledge and expertise to the EMBO Programmes, help strengthen ties between Chile and Europe, and inspire a new generation of plant scientists to tackle the challenges we face as a society because of climate change. EMBO is a fantastic network of very talented people, and I am honoured and humbled to be part of it.”