Dr Lucas Frungillo

Lecturer in Plant Biotechnology

Biography

Background

I am a biologist fascinated by how biochemical information flows between and within cells to coordinate metabolic outputs. I obtained my PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology under the guidance of Prof Ione Salgado in the University of Campinas/Brazil, and in close partnership with Prof Steven Spoel in the University of Edinburgh/UK. From 2015, under the mentorship of Prof Steven Spoel, I carried out my post-doctorate research supported by EMBO-LTF, and BBSRC Discovery Fellowships to study mechanisms of specificity in protein post-translational modifications. In 2022, I was appointed as Lecturer in Plant Biotechnology in the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences at the University of Edinburgh and established my own research group focused on the identification and synthetic manipulation of regulatory nodes in plant nutrition.

Qualifications

  • 2022-present     Lecturer in Plant Biotechnology, University of Edinburgh
  • 2019-22                BBSRC Discovery Fellow, University of Edinburgh
  • 2017-19                Post-doctoral research assistant, University of Edinburgh
  • 2015-17                EMBO Long Term Fellow, University of Edinburgh
  • 2011-15                PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Campinas

Undergraduate teaching

Plant biotechnology (BSc Honours)

Agriculture is a fundamentally important part of modern biotechnology, and will increase in importance during the next 50-100 years. The planet's population is predicted to peak at over 9 billion in the second half of this century. To provide food and dignified living conditions, agricultural productivity will have to increase 50% by 2030 and 70% by 2050. This task is extremely challenging, as it will have to coincide with a transition to more sustainable and less energy-intensive agricultural practices and be achieved with less agricultural land due to climate change and urbanisation. This course focuses on plants and explore the fundamental constraints and opportunities for sustainable food and bioenergy production, as well as the use of plants to supply high-value products for human welfare.

 

Molecular and synthetic plant biology 3 (BSc)

This course looks at how plants work and how this knowledge is being used in crop improvement and biotechnology. This course is also about developing your skills, from designing and analysing experiments to finding, evaluating, and presenting information. The course particularly explores aspects of plants that make them unique. It is centred on the processes underlying growth, development, and how plants interact with their environment and with the pathogens and symbionts that they share it with. By the end of the course, students know how plants use their genetic information and how this knowledge can be harnessed via the latest synthetic biology, gene editing and high-throughput sequencing technologies available to improve crops and tackle climate change.

 

Systems and regulation (BSc)

This course is currently being designed. More information will be made available soon.

Postgraduate teaching

Intelligent agriculture (MSc)

Agriculture is a fundamentally important part of modern biotechnology, and will increase in importance during the next 50-100 years. The planet's population is predicted to peak at over 9 billion in the second half of this century. To provide food and dignified living conditions, agricultural productivity will have to increase 50% by 2030 and 70% by 2050. This task is extremely challenging, as it will have to coincide with a transition to more sustainable and less energy-intensive agricultural practices and be achieved with less agricultural land due to climate change and urbanisation. This course focuses on plants and explore the fundamental constraints and opportunities for sustainable food and bioenergy production, as well as the use of plants to supply high-value products for human welfare.

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Research summary

Continued rapid growth of the global population is raising concerns over future food security. Availability of nutrients in soil, particularly nitrogen (N) sources, represents a major bottleneck in crop yield. Therefore, current crop productivity relies heavily on the use of commercial fertilizers. Intensive use of fertilizers, however, often leads to billions of pounds in losses annually and significant environmental impact.

 

In Frungillo Lab we use a range of genetic, genomic, proteomic, and biochemical techniques to identify and synthetically manipulate regulatory nodes that feedback nitrate assimilation in plants. Ultimately, we aim to reveal novel chemical and genetic targets that can be used in crop improvement strategies. Specifically, we are tackling this challenge though the following different angles:

 

  • Fine-tuning plant nutrition with protein post-translational modifications.

Previously, our work revealed that plants evolved feedback mechanisms to balance N assimilation accordingly to its availability in soil and their metabolic status. Specifically, we showed that N assimilation and protein post-translational modifications are tightly connected, allowing plants to fine-tune cellular signalling and metabolic fluxes. These findings suggest that control of protein post-translational modifications represents an attractive way of improving nutrient use efficiency to sustainably increase crop yield per unit of land. In Frungillo Lab, we are interested in understanding fundamental cellular mechanisms of protein post-translational modifications employed during nutrient assimilation in plants.

 

  • Manipulation of metabolic trade-offs between plant vigour and stress responses.

Plants swiftly integrate multiple external stimuli to adapt to environmental changes. Immunity, light and nutrient availability in soil are major external inputs fine-tuning plant growth and development. Despite their impact on plant performance, the crosstalk between these stimuli is still poorly understood. We aim to uncover and rewire molecular mechanisms by which plant metabolism is reprogrammed in response to environmental stimuli.

 

  • Translational research into crops.

In intensive farming, crop varieties are often planted in rotation, with much of the farmland remaining fallow during the fall to spring months. Despite that cover crops limit nutrients loss, suppress weeds, and reduce soil erosion, only a small fraction of farm fields is planted with a winter. Reluctance in using cover crops stems mainly from the fact that traditional cover crops provide little economic return and can be costly to establish and terminate. Field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense), a flowering plant from the Brassicaceae family, has attracted attention due its potential as a winter annual cash cover crop to reduce soil erosion and nutrients leaching while producing an economically valuable oilseed. We are currently assessing feasibility of pennycress cultivation in UK farms by determining its economic potential in UK environmental conditions.

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