phySIOLOGy and METABOLISM

The main objective of this research line deals with the following subjects:

1. Physiology of the reproduction. Focused in three main aspects: alternate bearing, fruit development and ripening.

2. Abscission. Effect of the nutritional status on fruit abscission.

3. Salinity and water stress. Study of the effects of adverse environments on the development of citrus plants.

4. Physiology of hormones. Effect of the over-expression of hormonal genes in citrus.

5. Effect of the "harpin" proteins. Study of the vegetative and reproductive responses.

This laboratory also complements the physiological studies that arise from other projects of Molecular Biology and Genomics carried out in this Center. In this sense, this laboratory has developed diverse analytical techniques such as detection and quantification of vegetal hormones, carbohydrates, pigments, organic acids, vitamins... To perform those analyses, the laboratory has chromatography systems, HPLC and GC, as well as spectrometry instruments (GC/MS and GC/MS/MS).