CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Gene expression in eukaryotes is a complex process that involves different regulatory mechanisms. RNA processing is animportant layer of the path genes enjoy during and after transcription. Particularly, alternative splicing (AS), brings to the game awhole new spectrum of transcripts originated from a single gene, making available a wider range of response to the cell. Thismechanism is then considered one of the main sources of protein and non-coding ARNs diversity. In plants, the relevance of ASis growing as a result of the advance in sequencing techniques. These autotrophic organisms harvest their energy from light.Being sessile organisms, plants need to adapt to a changing environment, evolution handed a vast variety of mechanisms toperceive variations in the ever-changing environment, and to respond precisely to them. In this sense, light is one of the mainstimuli sensed by photoreceptor proteins. Chloroplasts, besides being the organelle where photosynthesis occurs, are one of themain players in light sensing, modulating gene expression by retrograde signaling. Mitochondrias are also, by the means ofretrograde signaling, capable of modulating AS in the nucleus. In the plant life cycle, the seed is a quiescent stage where theembryo awaits favorable conditions to germinate and develop a mature plant. We are interested in understanding AS modulationduring the early stages of seed development, its maturation and future germination. Previous work indicates AS is regulated bylight in the seeds. Some of the analyzed events are controlled by photoreceptors while others are not, these could be affected byretrograde signals. Our experimental approach will allow us to identify the role and the different light sensing mechanismsinteraction, like retrograde signals and photoreceptor pathways, during the whole life of the seed.