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Project properties |
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| Title | The tug-off-war between internal and external signals to control growth directionality |
| Group | Cell Biology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 12 onwards |
| Supervisor(s) | Tijs Ketelaar, Jeroen de Keijzer, Peter van Gisbergen |
| Examiner(s) | Tijs Ketelaar |
| Contact info | tijs.ketelaar@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2024/02/01 |
| End date | |
| Description | Moss protonemata consist of a thread-like chain of cells that explore the environment. To do so, protonemata need to grow away from the centre of a moss colony, and at the same time respond to environmental cues such as light and gravity. For this, the tip-growing cells at the protonema ends are equipped with an intracellular array of microtubules that provides them with an internal polarity cue. The signal provided by the microtubules is integrated with external signals from the environment and result in directional cell expansion that is robust, yet responsive to external stimuli. In this project we aim to understand how the polarity cues provided by the microtubule cytoskeleton are transduced to the growing cell tip. We have identified several kinesin motor proteins that localize in the tip. Deletion of these kinesins causes diverse defects including a reduced responsiveness to extracellular cues and disruption of growth. Using molecular cloning, moss transformation and genotyping, we will generate lines with fluorescently tagged kinesins, markers and deletions. These lines will be used for quantitative microscopic analysis of the growth and microtubule defects using spinning disk confocal microscopy. With your help, we will be able to decipher the mechanisms that control growth directionality. |
| Used skills | Advanced light microscopy, molecular cloning, working with mutant lines, cell culturing, PCR and DNA cloning |
| Requirements | recommended; CLB-30306 |