Responses of higher plants to boron deficiency

Dissertation presented to obtain the degree of Doctorate in Biochemistry by Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica of Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Despite being known for more than 80 years that B is essential for plant growth, the role of this element in plant metabolism remains elusive. Until now, B involvement in the plant cell wall structure is the only well-documented participation of B. However, this participation can not explain all the symptoms observed in Bdeficient plants nor the requirement of B for early animal developmental processes. The aim of this study was to acquire additional data on the role(s) of B in the growth and development of higher plants. For that purpose, Lupinus albus, an important crop plant, was used to study long-term B deficiency responses, characterizing the proteomes of the leaf apoplast (Chapter 2) and of the root system (Chapter 3). A metabolite analysis was also performed in the different organs (leaf-blades, petioles, apexes, hypocotyls and roots) of L. albus plants (Chapter 4). Some consistent responses were observed with these different approaches.(...)

The investigation was co-financed by Fundação da Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) POCI 2010 and Fundo Social Europeu (FSE) through the PhD fellowship SFRH/BD/18273/2004.