Welcome to the Üstün Lab

Common denominator to the research of our group is a strong interest in plant proteostasis and its role in plant stress responses. We use model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana to address our research questions. Our current and future research will enable a better understanding of how proteostasis shapes the plant response to stress. Building on our previous and ongoing work, we propose that the interconnected processes of protein synthesis, transport, and degradation form a regulatory triangle that governs plant responses to abiotic and biotic stress and ultimately modulates plant metabolism. Perturbations within this network disrupt proteostasis and can lead to proteotoxicity, characterized by the accumulation of damaged or misfolded proteins that cause long-term cellular damage. Our team aims to elucidate the mechanisms that maintain this balance and to develop strategies to mitigate proteotoxic stress in plants.