Project Reference: TRG27-SLB-NB1
Project title: Sculpting leaves: Cytokinin and the marginal patterning
Project outline
Background: A key question in developmental biology is how complex forms arise. Plant leaves provide an excellent system for understanding how patterning mechanisms that define organ geometry are integrated with growth processes to generate organ shape. Cytokinins (CKs) are plant hormones best known for promoting leaf growth. However new unpublished findings from the Bhatia lab suggest that CKs may play additional roles in shaping leaves by also contributing to the patterning mechanisms that define leaf geometry.
Aim: This project aims to determine how CK activity coordinates growth and pattern formation during leaf morphogenesis using Arabidopsis leaves as model.
Questions: (1) Do CKs regulate leaf form by simply promoting growth? (2) Do they accentuate local growth differences established by the pattern generator? (3) Do they provide direct inputs into the pattern generator and how?
Methods: The project will combine genetics, time-lapse imaging, cell-fate mapping, growth analysis, CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing, and single-cell transcriptomics to uncover how CK activity shapes leaf form. By integrating CK perturbations with marginal patterning reporters, we will determine how CK regulates gene expression, hormone dynamics, and cellular behaviours during morphogenesis. Genetic and single-cell approaches will reveal how CK interacts with the patterning networks to control leaf shape.
Significance: This project will provide new mechanistic insights into how CK activity integrates growth and patterning to generate organ form. The findings will establish new genetic frameworks for CK action, inform computational models of leaf development, and advance our understanding of how hormonal networks coordinate pattern formation and growth, a central challenge in developmental biology.
Training: The student will receive training in cutting edge techniques mentioned above and in scientific communication through manuscript writing, conference presentations and outreach.
Principal Supervisor
Dr Neha Bhatia
Email address: nb759@cam.ac.uk
Department / Partner Institute: Sainsbury Laboratory
Website: https://www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/research/bhatia-group
BBSRC strategic theme
Understanding the rules of life