Project properties

Title Salt signalling at the root of salt stress
Group Plant Physiology, Laboratory of
Project type thesis
Credits >24
Supervisor(s) Joram Dongus
Examiner(s) Christa Testerink
Contact info joram.dongus@wur.nl AND thesis.PPH@wur.nl
Begin date 2023/01/01
End date 2015/01/05
Description Aim: dissecting salt stress signalling using plant physiology and molecular biology

Salt stress is posing an increasingly larger threat to global food security and natural ecosystems. In the group of Christa Testerink (Plant Physiology, PPH), we want to find out how plants in the wild cope with salt stress and how to apply that knowledge to improve agriculture. We identified a protein that is key for salt stress responses in Arabidopsis. Since this protein is highly conserved throughout the plant kingdom, our research will also clarify how crop plants cope with salt stress. By comparing plants expressing mutated proteins to plants expressing the wild type protein, we aim to understand what the exact role is of our protein in salt stress signalling. To do so, we need to perform various experiments: phenotype various root and shoot traits under salt stress, determine protein localization using confocal microscopy, measure signalling outputs by qPCR, and study protein-protein interactions.

In conclusion, are you looking for an MSc. thesis/internship project that focusses on physiology, or on molecular biology, or both!? Simply contact us at PPH in Dutch or English by sending an email to joram.dongus@wur.nl or check our website: rootsinsalt.com

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: Quantifying root and shoot growth parameters
• CRISPR cloning
• Selecting alleles made with CRISPR
• Data analysis: ImageJ/Fiji, R
• Genotyping and plant propagation
• qPCR
Requirements Master level - No specific courses required to apply.