Structural Biology of Plant Response to Stress

The transport of ions through the membranes of plant establishes pH and ion homeostasis of the cell and this, in turn, the key physicochemical parameters for cell function. Abiotic stress unbalances cell ion homeostasis and plants tend to re-adjust it by regulating different ion channels and transporters. Our work is centered in the study at atomic level by means of crystallography and other structural techniques of the molecular mechanism underlying the function and regulation of the major channels, transporters and regulatory molecules that control the transport and the compartmentalization of ions in plants under drought and salinity stresses.