Project properties
Title Role of Raf-like MAPKKKs in seed maturation and desiccation tolerance
Group Plant Physiology, Laboratory of
Project type thesis
Credits 36
Supervisor(s) Asif Ahmed Sami, Mariana Silva Artur
Examiner(s) Mariana Silva Artur
Contact info asif.ahmedsami@wur.nl, mariana.silvaartur@wur.nl AND thesis.PPH@wur.nl
Begin date 2024/02/01
End date 2024/08/01
Description Maturation is a crucial phase of seed development whereby seeds acquire all the essential seed quality traits such as germinability, dormancy, desiccation tolerance, longevity, etc. In orthodox seeds, maturation phase is accompanied by a gradual loss of water which finally leads to desiccation of the seed tissue. This results in seeds experiencing mild to severe osmotic stress during maturation. In series of recent works, Raf-like protein kinases have been shown to act as regulators of both ABA-dependant and ABA-independent osmostress response pathways (Fabregas et al., 2020).

In this project, the student will explore the role of ABA-independent Raf-kinases in maturation and desiccation tolerance Arabidopsis thaliana seeds. For this, the student will make use of the CRISPR/Cas technology to create single/higher order mutants of different ABA-independent Raf-kinases and measure the phenotypic effects during seed development.

Background Reading:

1. Fabregas, N., Yoshida, T., & Fernie, A. R. (2020). Role of Raf-like kinases in SnRK2 activation and osmotic stress response in plants. Nature Communications, 11(1), 6184. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19977-2.


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 Seed phenotyping, cloning, CRISPR/Cas
Requirements Preferably one of the two courses: Seed science and technology (PPH-31306) or Plant plasticity and adaptation (PPH-30806).