Project properties
Title Deciphering the origin of hormone signalling pathways: a synthetic approach to auxin biology in plants
Group Biochemistry, Laboratory of
Project type thesis
Credits 21-39
Supervisor(s) Dr. Jorge Hernández-García
Examiner(s) Prof. Dr. Dolf Weijers
Contact info Jorge.hernandezgarcia@wur.nl
Begin date 2023/02/01
End date 2024/12/31
Description Hormone signalling allows organisms to regulate their physiology. Each hormone triggers multiple and complex, context-dependent responses that evolved from simpler pathways. An unanswered question is what functions were initially regulated by these pathways before complexity emerged, and what molecular and biochemical properties were responsible of these complexification process.
The auxin signalling pathway produces a variety of diverse responses in land plants, while still being simple and well characterized. Thus we will analyse the evolutionarily conserved components of the system in different plant species to study their functional and biochemical functions to understand the origin of hormone signalling and response. Most of the analyses include synthetic biology approaches using orthogonal and heterologous system to allow for fast and medium-throughput assays.
Used skills General molecular biology, cloning, protein-protein interaction assays (Y2H, BiFC), transactivation assays, N. benthamiana agrobacterium infiltration
Requirements Basic knowledge of plant molecular biology and evolution