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The hormonal control of shoot branching in Arabidopsis

Reference	BB/C518057/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Ottoline Leyser
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Sally Ward
Institution	University of York
Department	Biology
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	690,616
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/04/2005
End date	31/07/2008
Duration	40 months

Abstract

Plasticity is a central characteristic of plant post-embryonic development and allows opportunistic, environmentally responsive growth, development, and progression through the life cycle. A good example of this is the regulation of shoot branching. The primary apical-basal axis of the shoot is established during embryogenesis, with the development of the primary shoot apical meristem at the shoot apex. Post-embryonically, secondary shoot apical meristems can be established in the axils of the leaves produced by the primary apical meristem. The activity of these axillary meristems is regulated by the integration of genetic and environmental factors, as well as the previous developmental decisions made by the plant. Therefore the switch between axillary bud dormancy and activity is an excellent model for investigating signal integration in plant development. There is good evidence that this feat of signal integration is mediated by a network of interacting systemic hormonal signals. In particular, apically-derived auxin is known to inhibit bud activity, and cytokinin from the roots, or made locally at the node, promotes bud activity. In addition, mutant studies in pea, Petunia and Arabidopsis have suggested the existence of a novel hormone, synthesised at all positions along the plant, that acts to inhibit bud activity. Numerous points of interaction between these hormones have been identified, leading us to develop a model illustrating their interactions and the consequences for shoot branching. In this project we propose to extend the dataset on the interactions in this hormone network, and link the network more firmly to its upstream inputs and downstream outputs. This will allow the model to be refined and extended to provide a predictive tool for future work.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Genes & Developmental Biology (GDB)
Research Topics	Plant Science, Systems Biology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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