→ Projects for internships
Mathematical models of the mechanisms plants use to face warmth and drought:
Plants modify their growth and development in response to environmental conditions to ensure their survival. Warmth (T) and
drought (D) responses include the expansion and orientation of the leaves, the regulation of the aperture of the stomata,
the modification of the length of the plant’s above and underground organs, among other responses. Understanding the molecular
mechanisms that plants use to integrate this environmental information into their development is fundamental to predict novel
approaches for the development of extra-resilient plants. In our research we use a mathematical modelling approach to integrate
and study the molecular regulatory networks mediating TxD responses in plants.
We have two internship projects available in this research line:
Droplets of resilience - the role of molecular condensates in warmth and drought plant responses:
Research in the model organism Arabidopsis (the mouse of plants) have led to the identification of a handful of key regulators
mediating warmth (T) and drought (D) responses. These regulators include transcription factors, light receptors, circadian clock
regulators, among others. Remarkably, several of these regulators form molecular condensates in response to either T or D, thereby
introducing a fast and dynamic mechanism to respond to these environmental inputs. For instance, SEUSS is a transcriptional co-regulator
that regulates stem cell activity in the root, promotes the elongation of the hypocotyl in response to warmth, and drought rapidly
induces the formation of SEUSS molecular condensates. Yet it is unclear how the rapid formation of droplets affects growth responses
in the shoot and the root. Here you will develop a mathematical model of the SEUSS regulatory network to study the effect of drought-induced
molecular condensates in the regulation of above- and underground organs. You will use your models to identify trade-offs of T
and D
responses, and to predict testable predictions of how to improve the resilience of plants.
Paradoxical regulation of the abscisic acid signaling network in drought conditions:
Abscisic acid (ABA) is a plant hormone that plants use to cope with scarcity of water, by minimizing water loss, regulating growth, and
maintaining their physiological processes. The timing of such responses is critical, for example, to separate the production of carbon
energy during the day, and the usage of such energy for growth in the dark. This timing is regulated by the circadian clock, and regulatory
links have been described between the clock and ABA regulation. Namely, a circadian clock regulator represses the expression of genes
mediating ABA synthesis while also activating the expression of genes involved in ABA transcriptional regulation. To explain the consequences
of this paradoxical regulation, here you will use a mathematical modelling approach. Using a mathematical model of the ABA signaling pathway,
that goes from synthesis, perception, and gene regulation, you will integrate the changes in gene expression described in experiments, and
perform simulations to predict how, when and where they can trigger ABA responses in the plant.
If you are interested in joining the group to develop computational models of plant development and generate testable predictions, please see below the list of available projects in the lab. Feel free to
contact me and I'll be happy to share more details, and discuss your ideas.
To apply send an email to m.l.garciagomez@uu.nl.
