Plants are sessile organisms, which need to cope with environmental changes. Due to climate change, drought and heat are major problems for plants to deal with. To overcome these challenges, different species have evolved strategies such as specialized biochemical pathways. Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is the most efficient mode of photosynthesis regarding water-use efficiency. Thereby, stomata are closed during the day and CO2is fixed at night. In agriculture, most of the present-day crops, such as rice or maize, use C3 or C4 photosynthesis. However, it is known, that the human´s population will rise within the next decades. Putting together the increase of people who will need food and the influence of climate change, by making growth of our currently used crops difficult, one can see that research and improvement is necessary.
Previous work in our lab focused on Talinum triangulare, a plant that can switch between C3 and CAM photosynthesis if needed. Research on this facultative CAM plant led to promising results in transcriptomics and metabolomics regarding the C3 and CAM mode. The induction of CAM could not only be induced by drought, but also with exogenous application of the plant hormone abscisic acid. This method can help to induce CAM specifically and learn more about the pathway´s regulation. RNA sequencing and metabolic measurement data could show potential CAM regulators. I will focus on learning more about the regulatory pathway of CAM. This will include work on transcription factors and how they regulate gene expression when CAM is induced.
Starting date: 01.07.2019 / Doctoral Researcher
Thesis committee members: Andreas Weber, Shizue Matsubara
Hartmann, Michael; Zeier, Tatyana; Bernsdorff, Friederike; Reichel-Deland, Vanessa; Kim, Denis; Hohmann, Michele; Scholten, Nicola; Schuck, Stefan; Bräutigam, Andrea; Hölzel, Torsten; Ganter, Christian; Zeier, Jürgen (2018): Flavin Monooxygenase-Generated N-Hydroxypipecolic Acid Is a Critical Element of Plant Systemic Immunity. In: Cell 173 (2), 456-469.e16. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.02.049
Hartmann, Michael; Kim, Denis; Bernsdorff, Friederike; Ajami- Rashidi, Ziba; Scholten, Nicola; Schreiber, Stefan; Zeier, Tatjana; Schuck, Stefan; Reichel-Deland, Vanessa; Zeier, Jürgen (2017): Biochemical Principles and Functional Aspects of Pipecolic Acid Biosynthesis in Plant Immunity. In: Plant physiology 174 (1), S. 124– 153. DOI: 10.1104/pp.17.00222