Dr. Motsoea Lephatsi

The research background of Dr. Motsoea Lephatsi is rooted in metabolomics and the application of advanced computational tools in natural product research. During her master's studies, she investigated epigenetic and metabolic changes in maize plants under drought stress, focusing on the role of microbial biostimulants in enhancing plant adaptation. Her PhD research expanded on this foundation by utilizing 4IR technologies, including MS2LDA, molecular networking, and molecular docking, to explore the anti-cancer properties of Helichrysum plants. Currently, as a postdoctoral researcher, she is further delving into plant metabolic pathways and integrating multi-omics approaches to advance the field of natural product research and its applications.

During her CropPrime secondment at CPSBB, her research focused on evaluating the effects of seaweed-based extracts on plant resilience under various abiotic stress conditions using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system. The main goal was to investigate the role of Laminaria extract (product BioAT 08) and purified bioactives from SuperFifty Prime (BioAT 04, F260801) and (BioAT 05, F08012024) — in mitigating drought, salt, and oxidative stress in plants, as well as to understand the underlying mechanisms influencing stress tolerance pathways. Initial experiments revealed that BioAT 08 enhanced plant growth under optimal conditions but did not significantly alleviate drought stress, suggesting it functions more as a growth promoter. However, BioAT 08 demonstrated protective effects against paraquat-induced oxidative stress, reducing oxidative damage in plants. Further studies with BioAT 04 and BioAT 05 indicated that these bioactive formulations promoted growth under non-stress conditions, with BioAT 05 showing particularly pronounced effects, such as increased leaf area and biomass accumulation. Under salt stress, both BioAT 04 and BioAT 05 provided partial mitigation of salinity-induced damage. These findings highlight the potential of these seaweed-based biostimulants to enhance plant growth and resilience under certain stress conditions. Future research will focus on fine-tuning the application rates and exploring additional bioactive components to maximize their stress mitigation potential.