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Project properties |
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| Title | Development of Cytokinin Reporters for Physcomitrium patens |
| Group | Cell Biology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 12 to 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Jiawei Yao, Jordi Floriach-Clark, Prof. Viola Willemsen |
| Examiner(s) | Prof. Viola Willemsen |
| Contact info | jordi.floriach-clark@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2024/05/01 |
| End date | 2027/01/01 |
| Description | The moss Physcomitrium patens has been used as a model organism for studies on plant evolution, development, and physiology for decades. Unlike vascular plants, P. patens undergoes alterations of generation, in which haploid generation dominates the life span. The haploid generation develops both filamentous protonemata and plantlet-like “gametophores”. Previous studies showed that plant hormone cytokinin directly promotes the protonemata-to-gametophores transition. This step is known as the 2D-to-3D transition which involves the switch of cell identity of a single cell.
The cell identity switch enables the cell with the capacity to divide in three dimensions of space to form more complex organs, instead of an ever-branching filament. This simple step may be the foundation of how plants develop complex structures. What we want to know is what are the unique factors involved in this transition. To leverage this transition process information, we need to predict when and where the transition will occur. A cytokinin sensor could show the distribution of cytokinin across the tissue and how they evolve in time as well as how they are affected with exogenous addition of the hormone. These studies will help to settle the research question of 2D-to-3D transition in moss. The project involves the generation of transient (as protoplasts) and stable cytokinin reporter lines in P. patens. Both WT and reporter lines will be tested in a cutting-edge microfluidic device with hormones or other factors that may trigger the 2D-to-3D transition. |
| Used skills | Gene engineering (Gateway cloning, E. coli transformation, PCR, and gene manipulation)
Microscopic technique (Confocal microscopy and microfluidics) Plant tissue culture (Plant transformation) |
| Requirements | Gene Technology or equivalent
Cell Biology or equivalent Microscopy techniques or equivalent |