Francisco J Corpas

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Verified

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• Professor
• Professor (Full) at Spanish National Research Council

Nitric oxide (•NO) is a free radical that is endogenously produced in plant cells, though its enzymatic synthesis remains a subject of ongoing debate. Plant peroxisomes, subcellular compartments with active nitro-oxidative metabolism, play a role in various metabolic pathways. Sulfite oxidase (SOX), a peroxisomal enzyme requiring the molybdenum cof...

Salt stress, particularly sodium chloride (NaCl), poses a significant threat to agricultural sustainability by limiting crop growth and development. The present study aimed to examine the effect of leaf-applied trehalose (Tre) on ion homeostasis, photosynthesis, antioxidant defense mechanisms, osmolyte accumulation, cell viability, oxidative stress...

Nitric oxide and hydrogen sulfide are signal molecules that can exert regulatory functions in diverse plant processes including fruit ripening. Sulfite oxidase (SOX) is a peroxisomal enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of sulfite (SO32−) to sulfate (SO42−) with the concomitant generation of H2O2. SOX requires the molybdenum cofactor (Moco) and it h...

Strengthening plant physiological traits is crucial for sustainable plant improvement. The underlying molecular mechanisms of rhodopsin-based plant improvement remain largely unknown. However, a recent study by Ding et al. offers some insights by exploring how light-gated channelrhodopsins regulate cytosolic Ca2+ conductance, reactive oxygen specie...

Cellular signaling is a key component of both intra- and intercellular communication, playing a crucial role in the development of higher plants as well as in their responses to environmental conditions of both abiotic and biotic origin. In recent decades, molecules such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and me...

Based on the research conducted so far, hydrogen sulphide (H 2 S) plays a crucial role in the development and stress resilience of plants. H 2 S, which acts as a signalling molecule, responds to different stresses such as heavy metals, drought, and salinity, and it regulates various aspects of plant growth and development including seed germination...

As global climate change intensifies, the occurrence and severity of various abiotic stresses will significantly threaten plant health and productivity. Drought stress (DS) is a formidable obstacle, disrupting normal plant functions through specific morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms. Understanding how plants naviga...

Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS) include two families of molecules that, in recent years, have been shown to be involved in a wide range of biological functions, such as seed and pollen germination, the development and regulation of root architecture, stomatal movement, senescence, flowering, and fruit formation and ripening [...]

Salt stress is a prevalent environmental issue that disrupts the redox balance and metabolic processes in plants, leading to reduced crop growth and productivity. Currently, over 6.74 million hectares in India are salt-affected, and about 75% of this land lies in states that are the major cultivators of edible oilseed crops (rapeseed-mustard). Ther...

Plant survival to a potential plethora of diverse environmental insults is underpinned by coordinated communication amongst organs to help shape effective responses to these environmental challenges at the whole plant level. This interorgan communication is supported by a complex signal network that regulates growth, development and environmental r...

Catalase is a major antioxidant enzyme located in plant peroxisomes that catalyzes the decomposition of H2O2. Based on our previous transcriptomic (RNA-Seq) and proteomic (iTRAQ) data at different stages of pepper fruit ripening and after exposure to NO enriched atmosphere, a broad analysis has allowed to characterize the functioning of this enzyme...

Protein persulfidation is a thiol-based oxidative posttranslational modification (oxiPTM) that involves the modification of susceptible cysteine thiol groups present in peptides and proteins through hydrogen sulfide (H2S), thus affecting their function. Using sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fruits as a model material at different stages of ripeni...

Iron (Fe) biofortification of edible organs without influencing crop yield is challenging, and potential solutions are largely unknown. Recently, Yan et al. identified a key regulator NAC78 (NAM/ATAF/CUC DOMAIN TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR 78) that enriches Fe in maize kernels without compromising crop yield. This may provide new crop yield management stra...

At the cellular level, the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), due to different abiotic or biotic stress, causes oxidative stress that induces an imbalance in the metabolism. Among the different H2O2-scavenging enzymatic antioxidants, ascorbate peroxidase (APX) is a heme-peroxidase that plays an important...

Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) is a reliable indicator of antioxidant content in animal and plant samples. The different experimental approaches available allow the determination of TAC using, as a reference, diverse compounds with recognized antioxidant capacities such as Trolox, ascorbic acid, gallic acid, or melatonin. A new portable device, n...

Catalase, a pivotal enzyme in plant antioxidative defense mechanisms, plays a crucial role in detoxifying hydrogen peroxide, a reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this chapter, a comparative analysis of catalase activity was conducted using two distinct methodologies: spectrophotometry and non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The...

The current global population is approximately 8 billion. So from a socio-economic point of view, governmental policies are intended to secure at least a minimum of the natural resources like food to the global population to minimize their uneven distribution. However, in the case of plants, the scenario seems different where an uneven distribution...

Atmospheric stressors include a variety of pollutant gases such as CO2, nitrous oxide (NOx), and sulfurous compounds which could have a natural origin or be generated by uncontrolled human activity. Nevertheless, other atmospheric elements including high and low temperatures, ozone (O3), UV-B radiation, or acid rain among others can affect, at diff...

Key message Pepper fruits contain two leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) genes which are differentially modulated during ripening and by nitric oxide. The LAP activity increases during ripening but is negatively modulated by nitration. Abstract Leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) is an essential metalloenzyme that cleaves N-terminal leucine residues from prote...

Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) is one of the enzymes of the ascorbate–glutathione cycle and is the key enzyme that breaks down H2O2 with the aid of ascorbate as an electron source. APX is present in all photosynthetic eukaryotes from algae to higher plants and, at the cellular level, it is localized in all subcellular compartments where H2O2 is generat...

Storage and maintenance of horticultural products in optimal conditions for a reasonable period, once they have been harvested is a technological challenge. Diverse methods are generally used, i.e., low temperature but, in many cases, it may provoke undesirable collateral effects such as softening or promoting pathogens infections, thus causing the...

Cold stress (CS) impact on crops is one of the critical constraints for sustainable and smart agricultural production. CS adversely affects plants leading to growth retardation, necrosis, chlorosis, and significant yield loss. The objective of this study was to explore the mechanistic basis of silicon (Si) in enhancing CS tolerance in alfalfa plant...

Salt stress is one of the major impairments to agricultural soil that significantly reduces growth and productivity in rice (Oryza sativa L.) and other crop plants. The proteomic mechanisms underlying salt stress tolerance in rice have not been well established. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of molecular mechanisms associated with salt s...

Tryptophan decarboxylase (TDC) catalyzes the conversion of L-tryptophan(Trp)to tryptamine, afirst step in the biosynthesis of serotonin and melatoninin plants. Pepper (Capsicum annuumL.) fruit,a globally popular horticultural producthas great nutritional and economic values. In addition to that pepper fruit undergoes phenotypical changes during rip...

Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fruit is a horticultural product consumed worldwide which has great nutritional and economic relevance. Besides the phenotypical changes that pepper fruit undergo during ripening, there are many associated modifications at transcriptomic, proteomic, biochemical, and metabolic levels. Nitric oxide (NO) is a recognized sig...

Melatonin, designated in plants as phytomelatonin, is a key biomolecule in both animal and plant cells. This is because, in addition to the detoxifying capacity melatonin has against different reactive oxygen species (ROS), it also has signaling properties that boost certain metabolic pathways and trigger both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidan...

Over the past three decades, the perception of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in living organisms has changed drastically. From being considered a toxic molecule, H2S is now considered a multifunctional signaling molecule that is involved directly or indirectly in a myriad of physiological processes in animal and plant cells but also in the mechanism of re...

Cancer is considered one of the main causes of human death worldwide, being characterized by an alteration of the oxidative metabolism. Many natural compounds from plant origin with anti-tumor attributes have been described. Among them, capsaicin, which is the molecule responsible for the pungency in hot pepper fruits, has been reported to show ant...

In this study, the interaction between zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) was investigated in rice roots to evaluate how Zn can protect the plants from Cd stress. Rice seedlings were treated with Cd (100μM) and Zn (100μM) in different combinations (Cd alone, Zn alone, Zn+ Cd, Zn+ Cd+ L-NAME, Zn+ Cd+ L-NAME+ SNP). Rice roots treated with only Zn also displa...

Controlled ROS generation contributes to defense systemic signaling and stress acclimation in plants. Recently, Fichman et al. reported that HPCA1 senses H2O2 and controls the production of ROS by RBOHD, then regulates downstream Ca2+ signaling cascades and thus mediates biotic and abiotic stress resilience in plants. Further, a better understandin...

Cancer is considered nowadays one of the main causes of human death worldwide, being characterized by an alteration of the oxidative metabolism. Many natural compounds with anti-tumor attributes have been described, many of them from plant origin. Among them, capsaicin, which is the molecule responsible for the pungency in hot pepper fruits, has be...

NADPH is an indispensable cofactor in a wide range of physiological processes that is generated by a family of NADPH dehydrogenases, of which the NADP-dependent malic enzyme (NADP-ME) is a member. Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fruit is a horticultural product consumed worldwide that has great nutritional and economic relevance. Besides the phenotypic...

In higher plants, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a recognized signaling molecule that performs multiple regulatory functions. The enzyme L-cysteine desulfhydrase (LCD) catalyzes the conversion of L-cysteine (L-Cys) to pyruvate and ammonium with the concomitant generation of H₂S, and it is considered one of the main sources of H2S in plants. Using non-de...

Nitric oxide (NO) has multifaceted roles in plants. He et al. report that NO produced in the shoot apex causes S-nitrosation of transcription factor GT-1. This mediator of NO signal perception subsequently regulates the expression of the HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR A2 (HSFA2) gene, thus leading to thermotolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Plant susceptibility to salt depends on several factors from its genetic makeup to modifiable physiological and biochemical status. We used lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) plants as a relevant medicinal and aromatic cash crop to assess the potential benefits of chitosan oligomers (COS) on plant growth and essential oil productivity during salinit...

NADPH is an indispensable cofactor in a wide range of physiological processes which is generated by a family of NADPH-dehydrogenases, where the NADP-dependent malic enzyme (NADP-ME) is one member of these enzymes. Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fruit is a horticultural product worldwide consumed which has great nutritional and economic relevance. Besi...

S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) plays a central role in nitric oxide (NO) homeostasis, and GSNO reductase (GSNOR) regulates the cellular levels of GSNO across kingdoms. Here, we investigated the role of endogenous NO in shaping shoot architecture and controlling fruit set and growth in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). SlGSNOR silencing promoted shoot sid...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and nitric oxide (NO) are two relevant signal molecules that can affect protein function throughout post-translational modifications (PTMs) such as persulfidation, S-nitrosation, metal-nitrosylation, and nitration. Lipoxygenases (LOXs) are a group of non-heme iron enzymes involved in a wide range of plant physiological functi...

The class III peroxidases (PODs) catalyze the oxidation of several substrates coupled to the reduction of H2O2 to water, and play important roles in diverse plant processes. The POD family members have been well-studied in several plant species, but little information is available on sweet pepper fruit physiology. Based on the existing pepper genom...

Plant peroxisomes have an active nitro-oxidative metabolism. However, the assay of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) could be a challenge since the purification of peroxisomes is technically a high time-consuming approach that needs to be optimized for each tissue/organ (root, leaf, fruit) and plant species. Arabidopsis thaliana, as a...

Aims: Pepper fruit is a horticultural product worldwide consumed which has great nutritional and economic relevance. NO and H2S are recognized signal molecules that can exert regulatory functions. This study aims to analyze the interrelationship between NO and H2S during fruit ripening. Results: Our data indicate that the H2S-generating L-cystei...

Nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) are two recognized signal molecules in higher plants involved in a wide range of physiological processes and the mechanisms of response against adverse environmental conditions. These molecules can interact to provide an adequate response to palliate the negative impact exerted by stressful conditions, p...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a signaling molecule that achieves different regulatory functions in animal and plant cells. The cytosolic enzyme L-cysteine desulfhydrase (LCD; EC 4.4.1.28) catalyzes the conversion of cysteine (L-Cys) to pyruvate and ammonium with the concomitant generation of H2S, this enzyme being considered one of the main sources of...

Salt stress is one of the common environmental threats to crop growth, development, and productivity. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are natural messengers and are known to play pivotal roles at different stages of the growth and development of plants under various environmental conditions. Keeping in mind the importance of PGRs in stress managemen...

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) has great relevance considering the substantial commercial potential of its essential oil. Nevertheless, the increasing soil salinity poses an imminent threat to lemongrass cultivation given its moderate salt-sensitivity. For this, we used silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) to stimulate salt tolerance in lemongrass cons...

Climate change and abiotic stress factors are key players in crop losses worldwide. Among which, extreme temperatures (heat and cold) disturb plant growth and development, reduce productivity and, in severe cases, lead to plant death. Plants have developed numerous strategies to mitigate the detrimental impact of temperature stress. Exposure to str...

Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) are usually upregulated in plants under diverse environmental stresses. These proteins have been suggested to function as molecular chaperones to safeguard other proteins from stress-induced damage. The ripening of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fruit involves important phenotypic, physiological, and biochemical chang...

Fruits are unique to flowering plants and confer a selective advantage to these species by facilitating seed maturation and dispersal [...]

Hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) is a reactive oxygen species (ROS) and a key modulator of the development and architecture of the root system under physiological and adverse environmental conditions. Nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) also exert myriad functions on plant development and signaling. Accumulating pieces of evidence show that dep...

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) catalyze the insertion of molecular oxygen into polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) such as linoleic and linolenic acids, being the first step in the biosynthesis of a large group of biologically active fatty acid (FA)-derived metabolites collectively named oxylipins. LOXs are involved in multiple functions such as the biosynthe...

Potassium (K⁺) plays a crucial role in plant homeostasis, and its deficiency significantly impacts photosynthesis, triggering a decrease in growth and crop production. K⁺ starvation induced a significant reduction in the net photosynthetic rate, and the drop is associated with resistance of CO2 diffusion through stomatal conductance, mesophyll cond...

Along with the rapidly increasing environmental contamination by heavy metals, the exposure of plants to chromium has also magnified, resulting in a declined productivity. Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)], the most toxic form of Cr, brings about changes in plant processes at morpho-physiological and biochemical levels. However, silicon (Si) is known to...

Salinity is one of the most constraining environmental factors that limits plant growth and productivity because it disturbs mineral nutrition by triggering interactions at the interface soil roots. It implies a notable competition between sodium (Na⁺) and potassium (K⁺), with this last mineral being a key nutrient for plants. Using the halophyte C...

The phytohormone auxin acts as an important signaling molecule having regulatory functions during the growth and development of plants. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are also known to perform signaling functions at low concentrations, however, over-accumulation of ROS due to various environmental stresses damages the biomolecules, cell structures a...

The ripening of fleshy fruit is a complex physiological process that involves drastic changes at phenotypic, genomic, proteomic, and biochemical levels, where the different subcellular compartments undergo biochemical and metabolic reorganizations, the shift of chloroplasts to chromoplasts being perhaps the best example. In this process, the unripe...

Salt stress severely limits the productivity of crop plants worldwide and its detrimental effects are aggravated by climate change. Due to a significant world population growth, agriculture has expanded to marginal and salinized regions, which usually render low crop yield. In this context, finding methods and strategies to improve plant tolerance...

H2O2 is an essential component of reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism and an obligatory side-product of aerobic respiration among plant cells. It is needed for plant growth, development, and stress management along with signalling properties. H2O2 is intricately involved in the stomatal closure during drought stress in conjunction with abscisi...

Various stress conditions, such as drought, salt, heavy metals, and extreme temperatures, have severe deleterious effects on plant growth and directly lead to a decline in yield and quality [...]

Wang et al. recently showed that, in soybean (Glycine max), root nodule formation is induced by a light-triggered signal that moves from the upper part of the plant to the roots. This novel signaling process opens a new area of research aimed to optimize the carbon–nitrogen balance in plant–rhizobium symbiosis.

H2S has acquired great attention in plant research because it has signaling functions under physiological and stress conditions. However, the direct detection of endogenous H2S and its potential emission is still a challenge in higher plants. In order to achieve a comparative analysis of the content of H2S among different plants with agronomical an...

Peroxisomes are ubiquitous organelles from eukaryotic cells characterized by an active nitro-oxidative metabolism. They have a relevant metabolic plasticity depending on the organism, tissue, developmental stage, or physiological/stress/environmental conditions. Our knowledge of peroxisomal metabolism from fruits is very limited but its proteome is...

Nitric oxide (NO) is an endogenous free radical involved in the regulation of a wide array of physio-biochemical phenomena in plants. The biological activity of NO directly depend on its cellular concentration which usually changes under stress conditions, it participates in maintaining cellular redox equilibrium and regulating target checkpoints w...

The physiological process of fruit ripening is associated with the late developmental stages of plants in which mitochondrial organelles play an important role in the final success of this whole process. Thus, an isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ)-based analysis was used to quantify the mitochondrial proteome in pepper fr...

Nitric oxide (NO) is a free radical which modulates protein function and gene expression throughout all stages of plant development. Fruit ripening involves a complex scenario where drastic phenotypical and metabolic changes take place. Pepper fruits are one of the most consumed horticultural products worldwide which, at ripening, undergo crucial p...

Nitric oxide (NO) is a multifunctional gaseous signal that modulates the growth, development and stress tolerance of higher plants. NO donors have been used to boost plant endogenous NO levels and to activate NO‐related responses, but this strategy is often hindered by the relative instability of donors. Alternatively, nanoscience offers a new, pro...

Fruit ripening is a physiological process that involves a complex network of signaling molecules that act as switches to activate or deactivate certain metabolic pathways at different levels, not only regulating the gene and protein expression but also through post-translational modifications (PTMs) of the involved proteins. Ethylene is the distinc...

The thiol group of cysteine (Cys) residues, often present in the active center of the protein, are of particular importance to protein function which is significantly determined by the redox state of a protein’s environment. Our knowledge of different thiol-based oxidative post-translational modifications (oxiPTMs), which compete for specific prote...

Potassium (K⁺) is an essential macro-element for plant growth and development given its implication in major processes such as photosynthesis, osmoregulation, protein synthesis, and enzyme function. Using 30-day-old Cakile maritima plants as halophyte model grown under K⁺ deprivation for 15 days, it was analyzed at the biochemical level to determin...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) of varied types can be yielded in plants at several primary sites (such as the chloroplast, mitochondria, and peroxisomes) under normal aerobic metabolism via processes including photosynthetic and respiratory electron transport chains. However, impaired oxidant-antioxidant balance and extreme growth conditions in plan...

Chitosan is a poly-(d)-glucosamine that has multiple biomedical, horticultural, or agricultural applications. However , the modifications of its physicochemical properties such as size, density, or surface area by controlled irradiation have started to be explored by biotechnological companies as it seems to improve its beneficial properties and ex...

Melatonin, a tryptophan-derived molecule, is endogenously generated in animal, plant, fungal and prokaryotic cells. Given its antioxidant properties, is involved in a myriad of signalling functions associated with various aspects of plant growth and development. In higher plants, melatonin interacts with plant regulators such as phytohormones, as w...

As a result of climate change, abiotic stresses are the most common cause of crop losses worldwide. Abiotic stresses significantly impair plants' physiological, biochemical, molecular and cellular mechanisms, limiting crop productivity under adverse climate conditions. However, plants can implement essential mechanisms against abiotic stressors to...