Growth and Development of higher plants

One of the main questions we aim to tackle with our modelling framework is to understand how (genetically regulated) cell-level phenomena, including the cell-cycle, translate to the growth and morphology of the whole plant. We will analyze growth of the primary root tip using kinematic analyses, analogous to earlier work on the leaf (P1C) and lateral root initiation (P1A and P1C), and we will study the regulatory effect of auxin on the cell cycle in both primary root tip and lateral root initiation (P1A, P1C and EU1).

We will then use these data to develop a spatial model of early cell division patterns of lateral root initiation, and its molecular regulation (P1A, P1C and EU1). This work stems from the recent finding (P1A) that lateral root initiation in Arabidopsis thaliana responds to pulses of auxin presumably transported through the lateral root cap and epidermal cells and possibly mediated through the bending of the root induced by gravitropic stimuli. This model will be instrumental to unravel the mechanisms of lateral root initiation, and will be the cornerstone of a larger modelling initiative (P1C, EU1) aiming at the creation of a virtual root.