Kohlen Group – Hormonal regulation of mitotic re-activation of plant cells
Imagine you were able to grow an extra arm when desired. While most vertebrates are unable to re-activate organ formation, plants have the remarkable capability of continuously re-activating organogenesis throughout their life. Because of this, the full form of the plant body is not predefined during embryogenesis. This plasticity is achieved post-embryonically through the formation of new axes of growth: so-called secondary meristems. These meristems harbour plant stem cells, which are undifferentiated cells that provide a steady supply of organ precursor cells.
The main mechanism by which secondary meristems are initiated is through the activation of lateral organ founder cells. A key feature of this type of meristem initiation is that cells are set aside and retain a stem cell-like identity until they are activated later to form a new meristem. However, in some cases an even greater form of plasticity is achieved: so called de novo meristem initiation. In contrast to founder cells, these meristems are initiated from fully differentiated cells.
As a plant physiologist, I am mainly interested in the mechanisms controlling a plants ability to initiate meristems de novo, and what defines that some tissues are able to do this whereas others cannot. This with an emphasis on plant hormones and gene regulatory networks. My team focusses on analysing the hormonal-transcriptional network during the initiation of de novo meristems at a cell type specific resolution.
Although shoot branching is crucial to determine the overall plant architecture in response to the environment, in agriculture this is often regarded as a problem. Much of a plants resources is invested in the formation of axillary buds and their outgrowth, thus reducing yield. As such, understanding - and ultimately controlling de novo meristem formation could contribute to improve agricultural practice.
Group members
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dr. W (Wouter) Kohlen
Group leader -
S (Sophia) Müller MSc
Sophia is Wouter’s first PhD student on the VIDI project. She is from Germany and her research interest lies in the molecular processes underlying lateral organ initiation. For this, she uses Medicago truncatula as a model organism. -
K (Kelvin) Adema MSc
Kelvin is the second PhD student on the VIDI project. He did his MSc thesis with Wouter and decided to join Wouter’s group for his PhD. His research interests lie in unravelling gene regulatory networks for which he will apply integrative Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics workflows. -
R (Rens) Holmer PhD
Rens is associated to the VIDI project as a postdoctoral researcher. Together with Kelvin he works on bioinformatics challenges that are inherent to modern high throughput molecular biology research. His interests lie in analysis of high dimensional datasets such as generated with single cell RNA sequencing, data visualization, and incorporating existing biological knowledge in bioinformatics applications.