Project properties
Title Transcriptional regulation of resilience to salinity in tomato
Group Plant Physiology, Laboratory of
Project type thesis
Credits 24-36
Supervisor(s) Rumyana Karlova
Examiner(s) Rumyana Karlova
Contact info rumyana.karlova@wur.nl AND thesis.PPH@wur.nl
Begin date 2019/10/01
End date 2021/10/31
Description Aim: Functional characterization of transcription factors that regulate plant resilience to salt stress using CRISPR/CAS9 in tomato.

For plants to be resilient to abiotic stresses like salt stress an drought, the root system is of vital importance. Roots are the primary organs that adapt their architecture and physiology to drought and salt stress. Their performance is key to the ability of the whole plant to recruit nutrients and water. However, we have limited knowledge of how the root functions and this translates into a limited capability to control plant resilience to abiotic stress. Salt stress affects root architecture, in that it reduces the growth of the main root, due to reduction of cell cycle activity at the root meristem, but permits growth of the lateral roots. In the presence of a salt gradient, tomato roots grow away from salinity (halotropism). This directional growth is due to specific pathways leading to auxin relocalization, and specific genes involved in that response have been isolated from Arabidopsis. In this project the function of several candidate genes involved in tomato root architecture will be investigated, by CRISPR-CAS and overexpression. The topology of the transcriptional network will be studied as well.

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 Phenotyping: root tilting assay (time-lapse & marker)
Plant genotyping: primer design, DNA isolation, PCR
Molecular biology: cloning, constructs CRISPR/CAS9, qRT-PCR
Protein- interactions using split YFP and yeast two-hybrid system, and protein�DNA interactions using yeast one-hybrid system and promoter luciferase assays.
Data analysis: using SmartRoot software, R & Python in data analysis
Requirements