Laboratory of Molecular Biology
The Laboratory of Molecular biology aims to understand the molecular basis of plant growth and development.
Research groups
Van Esse Group - Plant architecture and development
How do plants grow? A seemingly simple question, however beneath the surface there is much to learn. Within many of our crops, there is limited knowledge at the molecular level on the development of different yield related organs such as side shoots and seeds in relation to their environment. This knowledge is important, as different yield components are often negatively correlated, which makes optimizing yield in a sustainable way difficult.
Geurts Group - Nodulation Engineering
Is it possible to engineer non-leguminous crop plants such that they can establish a nitrogen-fixing nodule symbiosis with rhizobium bacteria? This question was raised already in 1917 by two American researchers. In those days, it was discovered that legume plants, like beans, clovers and peas, possess a unique trait. Legumes can interact with nitrogen-fixing rhizobium bacteria, which results in the formation of new organs on the root of the plant, so-called nodules. Inside nodule cells bacteria are hosted as transient organelle-like structures that convert dinitrogen gas (N2) into ammonia. This enzymatic reaction is fuelled by carbohydrates derived from the plant. In return, the plant receives ammonia, which allows a nitrogen-rich lifestyle, and growth independent of available nitrogen sources in the soil.
Limpens Group - Molecular development of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal symbiosis
To live in environments where nutrients are limited, plants engage in an endosymbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. These fungi colonize plant roots and are hosted inside root cortex cells, where highly branched hyphal structures called arbuscules are formed (Figure 1). There, the fungi deliver scarce minerals, especially phosphate and nitrogen sources, that they take up from the soil to the plant for which they get sugars and lipids in return.
Nodine Group - RNA Biology of Plant Embryos
Soon after fertilization of the egg and sperm, the zygotic genome becomes transcriptionally activated in plants and drives a series of coordinated cell divisions and cell-type specific gene regulatory programs to establish the basic plant body plan. Moreover, epigenetic marks associated with gene regulation are re-established across the genome during this early phase of plant life. However, the mechanisms underlying the formation of initial cell types and epigenomic landscapes in early embryos remain to be fully explored especially in plants.
Pierik Group - Plant Photobiology
Plants are remarkably flexible towards their environment. They have evolved ways to deal with all sorts of extremities and are able to interpret various combinations of environmental input signals.
Romanowski Group - The TimES Lab
Plants can tell time. Like most organisms that have adapted to Earth’s ~24h cycle, plants have developed an internal timekeeping mechanism known as the circadian clock, that allows them to predict rhythmic environmental variations and influences their responses to external cues.
Toledo-Ortiz Group - Plant photoreceptors in the regulation of chloroplastic metabolism
Light photoreceptors, including the Red/Far-Red light and temperature sensing phytochromes (phys) and the blue-light sensing cryptochromes (crys), are master integrators of environmental signals, with an indispensable role in chloroplast development, photosynthetic metabolism and growth.
Personal and endowed Professors
Angenent Group – Plant Developmental Systems (PDS)
My research group is interested in how developmental processes are controlled by transcription factors and chromatin modifications. We aim to unravel transcriptional networks underlying various processes such as flowering time regulation, floral organ development, fruit formation and embryogenesis. We apply various methods, such as ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, proteomics, microscopy, CRISPR/CAS9 technologies and in vitro assays, to build gene regulatory networks and study the role of genes and proteins involved in these developmental processes. We are using predominantly the model species Arabidopsis and tomato, but also aim to understand to what extent the networks and genes are conserved in other species, including crops.
Immink Group – Molecular control of flowering and reproduction of plants
How do plants, as sessile organisms, survive under ever-changing and sometimes harsh environmental conditions? This intriguing question is central to our research group. The answer can be found in the enormous flexibility and adaptability of plants regarding the timing of flowering and germination of seeds; two biological processes that appear to be interconnected at the molecular level.