Project Details
Description
Imagine you were able to grow an extra arm when desired. While most vertebrates are unable to re-activate organ formation, plants have the remarkable capability of continuously re-activating organogenesis throughout their life. This can be seen in newly formed branches in shoot and root. However, this plasticity is still predetermined, as the site of new branches is already decided at an earlier stage of development when cells are still in an undifferentiated state. Remarkably, some plants show an even greater level of plasticity. Herein new axes of growth originate de novo from differentiated cells that regain mitotic activity. Root nodule formation in legumes is a good example of this de novo organ initiation. Here, fully differentiated cortical cells are mitotically re-activated to form a nodule.
Among legumes, Medicago truncatula is amenable to genetic and genomic analyses and therefore provides a perfect model for analyzing mitotic re-activation of differentiated cortical cells. By comparing predetermined lateral root primordia formation to de novo nodule initiation, fundamental insights can be obtained on the unique mechanisms controlling these processes. The emergence of highly-sensitive hormone profiling, combined with high-throughput RNA sequencing technologies and cell-type-specific reporter lines in the medicago root makes it now possible to combine these techniques to investigate developmental processes on a cell-type-specific level. I will dissect the spatiotemporal hormonal-transcriptional network of de novo organ initiation and will provide novel insights into the processes controlling mitotic re-activation of differentiated cortical cells. Understanding this process in Medicago truncatula may enable re-activation of plant organogenesis at will in other plant species, allowing engineering of plant forms in ways currently not possible. In this respect, by targeting de novo organogenesis, this project provides the basis to conquer plant architecture.
Among legumes, Medicago truncatula is amenable to genetic and genomic analyses and therefore provides a perfect model for analyzing mitotic re-activation of differentiated cortical cells. By comparing predetermined lateral root primordia formation to de novo nodule initiation, fundamental insights can be obtained on the unique mechanisms controlling these processes. The emergence of highly-sensitive hormone profiling, combined with high-throughput RNA sequencing technologies and cell-type-specific reporter lines in the medicago root makes it now possible to combine these techniques to investigate developmental processes on a cell-type-specific level. I will dissect the spatiotemporal hormonal-transcriptional network of de novo organ initiation and will provide novel insights into the processes controlling mitotic re-activation of differentiated cortical cells. Understanding this process in Medicago truncatula may enable re-activation of plant organogenesis at will in other plant species, allowing engineering of plant forms in ways currently not possible. In this respect, by targeting de novo organogenesis, this project provides the basis to conquer plant architecture.
Status | Active |
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Effective start/end date | 1/03/21 → … |
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