The seminars take place on the Montpellier Institut Agro/INRAE Campus of La Gaillarde (2, place P. Viala Montpellier)

Thursday february 5, 2026 – 14h – Amphi 206

Ingo Dreyer

CBSM – Center of Bioinformatics, Simulation and Modeling, Universidad de Talca, Chile
idreyer@utalca.cl

Homeostats: Hidden rulers of ion homeostasis and signaling in plants

Ion homeostasis is a crucial process in plants that is closely linked to the efficiency of nutrient uptake, stress tolerance and overall plant growth and development. Recent modeling approaches have shown that it is not individual transporters but rather transporter networks (homeostats) that control membrane transport and associated homeostatic processes in plant cells. Homeostats are networks consisting of differently energized types of transporters that are permeable for a specific ion/molecule species, either alone or together with other ions, e.g., H+. Besides being essential for (ion) homeostasis in plants, homeostats also play a fundamental role in signaling. When homeostat-containing systems are brought out of steady state, e.g. by electrical stimuli, an imbalance in ion gradients, or a readjustment of transporter activities, the reactions to such changes can be divided into (i) short-term responses (tens of milliseconds) and (ii) long-term responses (minutes and longer). In short-term responses, the membrane voltage changes along with the concentrations of ions that are not very abundant in the cytosol (H+ and Ca2+), while long-term responses are caused by slow changes in ion concentrations. These mechanistic insights provide a new perspective on plant nutrition, as well as electrical, chemical, hydraulic, pH and Ca2+ signaling in plants.

Funding: ANID-Chile (Fondecyt 1220504)