The research in Tagnon’s group is focused on understanding how changes in the environment are precisely perceived by plants at cellular and molecular levels, and how to use this knowledge to mitigate the effects of environmental stress on crops. By using modern proteomics approaches based on state-of-the-art high-resolution mass spectrometry in combination with diverse molecular biology methods we investigate the interaction of plant proteins and enzymes with lipid peroxidation-derived reactive molecules and xenobiotics. We used these data to understand the plant responses to the environmental stress factors. In particular, we are aiming to understand the molecular basis of plant physiological death or tolerance to dehydration, low-temperature, and high-temperature stresses. The question we want to elucidate is how the proteomes react and adapt to environmental stress and at which point the stress response becomes insufficient and leads to permanent growth limitation.
