MODULATION OF ANTIOXIDATIVE METABOLISM IN PLANTS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF PLANT ABIOTIC STRESS TOLERANCE AND IDENTIFICATION OF NEW BIOMARKERS FOR APPLICATION IN REMEDIATION AND MONITORING OF DEGRADED BIOTOPES

Climate and environmental changes, often originating from antropogenic activities, are so rapid nowadays, that they likely override the adaptive potential of plants and their symbionts by promoting oxidative stress, which results in growth inhibition and cell death. Contemporary investigations of plant tolerance to abiotic stresses such as toxic metals, UV-B radiation, high light and temperatures, water deficit, etc. demand new tools and approaches to understand antioxidative responses of plants, such as genomic, proteomic, metabolomic, electrochemical, and EPR methods. Analysis of degraded land, and risk assessments are base in bioremediation with plants and simbionts. Integrated study on the effects of oxidative stress in plants will provide new knowledge about the mechanism of tolerance to abiotic stress, the phenomena of "cross-tolerance" and acquired systemic tolerance, which would be a basis for the development of new methods for monitoring. The project will be carried out through four sub-projects, with 22 researchers from 7 institutions and 6 foreign researchers. Applied final goal of this project is the use of these plants and their symbionts as pioneering species on damaged soils, and also identification of new biomarkers in assessment of pollution and introduction of new methods for modulation of gene expression in order to improve the system tolerance of selected plants and they are use in the re-cultivation.