Francesco Licausi - Breath of life: oxygen sensing mechanisms across kingdoms

During their evolution on Earth, aerobic organisms developed mechanisms to measure cellular oxygen levels and activate adaptive responses in case of hypoxia. This condition can be caused by fluctuations in embaient oxygen availability or associated with developmental and growth programmes. We observed that complex eukaryotes, such as higher plants and metazoans, converged in their oxygen sensing strategies towards the recruitment of dioxygenase enzymes to regulate the activity of specific transcription factors and other regulatory proteins. However, despite the functional comparability of the mechanisms, their molecular components are rather different. These similarities and differences between animal and plant hypoxia machineries represent a resource and opportunity for us to acquire better understanding of the dynamics of oxygen sensing in the two kingdoms and attain precise manipulation of these mechanisms for applicative purposes. I will illustrate our recent efforts towards these goals.