Project Reference: TRG27-SLB-NV1
Project title: Decoding Sugar Distribution in Plant Development
Project outline
How does a plant cell know when to stop dividing and start expanding? Unlike animal cells, plant cells are fixed in place, making precise division and expansion crucial for growth. Sugars are usually thought of as fuel for growth, but they can also act as signals. This project will test the idea that where sugars are located inside a plant may help determine how organs grow. This could reveal new principles for understanding and ultimately engineering plant growth.
The project will use the root of Arabidopsis, where cells divide near the root tip and progressively stop dividing, expand, and differentiate. Preliminary observations reveal a surprising pattern: glucose accumulates in cells leaving the cell cycle, while glucose-dependent signalling is strongest in dividing cells. This suggests that the important question may not simply be how much glucose a cell contains, but where within the cell that glucose is stored.
The student will use long-term live-cell microscopy and existing genetically encoded sugar sensors to follow sugar levels and cell behaviour in living roots over several days. A major goal will be to develop a new fluorescent sensor capable of measuring glucose inside the vacuole, the large storage compartment that can occupy most of a plant cell. This will reveal how sugar is partitioned within cells and how this relates to developmental decisions. The student will then use CRISPR-based genome editing and gene overexpression to manipulate sugar transport and distribution, testing whether changing local glucose levels can alter the position of the transition between cell division and cell expansion. The project will provide training in live-cell microscopy, quantitative image analysis, plant genetics, and genetically encoded biosensors, with opportunities to develop additional skills in advanced microscopy, transcriptomics, and computational modelling.
Principal Supervisor
Dr Nemanja Vukasinovic
Email address: vukasinovicnemanja@gmail.com
Department / Partner Institute: Sainsbury Laboratory
Website: n/a
BBSRC strategic theme
Understanding the rules of life