Project properties |
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Title | Can green be seen? Using CRISPR to study green light signaling through the possible photoreceptor cryptochrome 3 |
Group | Plant Physiology, Laboratory of |
Project type | thesis |
Credits | 24-39 |
Supervisor(s) | Dr. Jesse Kupers |
Examiner(s) | Dr. Charlotte Gommers |
Contact info | jesse.kupers@wur.nl AND thesis.PPH@wur.nl |
Begin date | 2023/05/01 |
End date | 2025/05/01 |
Description | Plants use light for photosynthesis, but not all colours of light are equally absorbed and used by chlorophyll. The green colour we associate with plants is due to leaves reflecting green light rather than absorbing it. As green light is not efficiently used in photosynthesis, has no large effects on plant growth and there is no known green light photoreceptor, plants have long been believed to be insensitive to green light. However, our recent work has identified cryptochrome 3 (cry3), the lesser-known sibling of the famous blue light receptors cry1 and cry2, as a potential green light photoreceptor that regulates chloroplast development in green light. To further study cry3 we require new cry3 mutant alleles. With these, we will advance our physiological and molecular understanding of this possible new photoreceptor.
In this project, you will use CRISPR-based gene editing to design, generate and investigate various cry3 mutant alleles that can be used for an abundance of later work, including phenotyping, gene expression and protein quantification experiments. If you are interested in this project please contact the supervisor via email with a copy to thesis.PPH@wur.nl with: 1. Your motivation for choosing this project 2. For which purpose (BSc or MSc thesis, research practice, etc) 3. Your BSc/MSc program 4. When you would like to start Please be aware that if you do not provide the required information above it may cause a delay in our reply. |
Used skills | Possible techniques include: Gene editing using CRISPR/Cas9, genotyping, phenotyping, Western blot, qRT-PCR |
Requirements | Knowledge of plant and molecular biology
Affinity with molecular lab work |