In this thesis, directed by Tomás Matus, the gene regulation of the specialized metabolism of the vid. Part of the research results have been published in journals such as The Plant Journal, Journal of Experimental Botany, Plant Cell and Plant Physiology. The thesis was defended on July 16, 2024.

Plants are a source of a great diversity of compounds that help in their interaction with the environment, and are the product of different specialized metabolic pathways. In grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.), one of the most studied and recognized pathways is the phenylpropanoid pathway (PPP), which is transcriptionally regulated by the coordinated action of several transcription factors (TFs) from different gene families such as R2R3-MYBs. The R2R3-MYB genes are widely studied in model plants, but in crops and other non-model species their study is still incipient. Based on the experimental limitations to characterize large gene families in non-model species, the thesis "Exploring cistromes and gene co-expression relationships to study R2R3-MYB family members and their regulators as candidates involved in specialized metabolism in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.)" proposes that TFs potentially involved in the regulation of PPP and other specialized metabolic pathways can be identified by combining multi-omics approaches that include gene co-expression networks, DNA affinity purification sequencing (DAP-seq; an in vitro technique that explores genome-wide DNA binding landscapes) and transient overexpression, followed by transcriptomics. This approach allows a holistic understanding of the transcriptional regulation of metabolism in non-model, but economically important plants such as the vine.

Luis Orduña carried out his doctoral research in the Transcriptional Orchestration of Metabolism group under the supervision of Tomás Matus, Ramón y Cajal researcher at the UV at the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology I2SysBio (UV-CSIC). During the completion of the thesis, Luis Orduña enjoyed a contract within the Research Personnel Training program (FPI). The qualifying panel was made up of Silvia Manrique (University Institute for Conservation and Improvement of Valencian Agrodiversity, COMAV, UPV), Nicola Vitulo (Università di Verona) and Francisco Madueño (Institute of Molecular and Cellular Plant Biology, IBMCP, UPV-CSIC), who rated the thesis as outstanding.