Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2018-2019)

Over the last 20 years my research program has focused on understanding the role of melatonin in plant morphogenesis, development, and adaptation in changing environments. For instance, studies conducted by my research team have implicated melatonin in vegetative growth and development, senescence, sexual reproduction, and protection against environmental stresses including cold, and toxic ions. Serotonin is both the precursor and the breakdown product of melatonin in plants and other organisms. While a wealth of information pertaining to the regulatory role of melatonin in plants has been generated over the last 50 odd years, few works have specifically investigated the role of serotonin. I hypothesize that serotonin mediates plant signaling, morphogenesis, and responses to environmental stress in plants in a serotonin specific manner independent of melatonin actions.

The overall objective of the current proposal is to investigate the role of serotonin during plant growth and development as well as during plant responses to environmental stresses including cold, drought, and salinity. In order to untangle the current mystery surrounding serotonin, my research will employ recent advances from our laboratory, coupled with new approaches involving live-imaging, phytochemical profiling and manipulation of plant life in controlled environments. A novel aspect of this research is the hypothesis that serotonin acts independently of melatonin during plant responses to stress. While a plethora of studies have investigated the role of melatonin in plants, many of these works do not simultaneous examine serotonin or the tryptophan pathway in full, which in turn has left many unanswered questions regarding the exact function of these molecules as well their relationship during plant responses to stress.

These results have important implications for Canadian agriculture as this work can provide novel screening parameters for identification of cold, drought and salt tolerant plants as well as introducing a potential role for enhancing plant resistance in the field through target application of tryptophan metabolites, including serotonin. For instance, introduction of plants which demonstrate even a mild tolerance to these stressors can extend the growing season and/or broaden the range of cultivated crops in many provinces, leading to greater food security for Canadians as well as economic gains for farmers.