Multiomics Profiling of Plants in Polluted Environments

ongoing

Rice is a staple food for over half of the world’s population, making it vital to understand how pesticides affect its growth, productivity, and resilience. Current research often relies on single-omics methods, such as metabolomics or transcriptomics, which provide limited insight of the complete picture of the metabolic pathways impacted by pesticides. As a result, the complex interactions and adaptive mechanisms in rice remain poorly understood. Multi-omics approaches offer the potential to reveal these intricate metabolic networks and regulatory mechanisms affected by pesticides. The Multiomics Profiling of Plants in Polluted Environments (MPOPPE) Project aims to bridge this knowledge gap by investigating the molecular effects of commonly used pesticides on rice through an integrated analysis of transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. MPOPPE will examine gene expression changes, identify responsive proteins, and track metabolic alterations in rice plants exposed to selected pesticides. The project’s primary focus is to uncover the molecular pathways involved in stress response and detoxification mechanisms in rice. The MPOPPE project has three core objectives: (1) developing a multi-omics approach to elucidate plant adaptation and detoxification mechanisms in response to pollutants; (2) evaluating how diverse abiotic stress factors affect these mechanisms using multi-omics approaches; and (3) exploring the role of external detoxification agents in mitigating the harmful effects of pollutants on environmental systems. This research is expected to provide critical data that can guide the development of integrated pest management strategies to improve rice yield and promote environmental sustainability by advancing sustainable agricultural practices.