Plant Physiology Laboratory
Head
- Guillermo Santa-María, PhD - Principal Investigator CONICET. Asocciate Professor UNSAM gsantama@intech.gov.ar
Members
- Jorge Moriconi PhD, Adjunct Research CONICET. Head of practical work UNSAM jmoriconi@intech.gov.ar
- Silvina Mangano PhD, Adjuntc Research CONICET smangano@intech.gov.ar
- Leonardo Gualano, Eng - Doctoral feloww CONICET. Head of practical work UNSAM leo.gualano@intech.gov.ar
Lines of investigation
Modern agriculture requires maintaining, or if possible improving, crop yield, while minimizing the cost and the potential negative impact exerted on ecosystems by some agricultural practices. In this context, the efficient use of resources, most of them non-renewable, is considered a main objective for the improvement of next generation crops. In our laboratory we try to identify traits associated with greater efficiency in the use of nutrients, which may help reduce the use of fertilizers. In particular, we examine large and diverse collections of wheat (Triticum aestivum), previously genotyped, in order to associate valuable phenotypic traits -for the efficiency in the use of phosphorus and potassium- to discrete regions of the genome. Next, we attempt to characterize the physiological and molecular processes that determine these phenotypic traits. Reciprocally, we explore the efficiency of nutrient acquisition and utilization in plants that carry alternative alleles of genes known to have a significant impact on crop performance.