Grierson Lab:Lab Members: Difference between revisions

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'''Research Interests'''
'''Research Interests'''


We are interested in root hair development and differentiation. Starting with the genetic network of root hair growth, which enabled us to identify gene products of central importance, we continue to pursue several gene functions in detail whilst simultaneously using "top down" approaches to the network as a whole.
We are interested in root hair development and differentiation. Starting with the genetic network of root hair growth, which enabled us to identify gene products of central importance, we continue to pursue several gene functions in detail whilst simultaneously using integrative approaches to the process as a whole.  


Current projects (with relevant students, research staff, and collaborators in brackets) include:
Understanding how dynamic interactions produce changes in phenotype, like different patterns of growth and development, is essential for our work on root hairs, but there is surprisingly little previous work to go on. We are addressing this with some fundamental research into network dynamics and the dynamics of biochemical processes.


  1. The function and targets of the TIP1 S-acyl transferase (Piers Hemsley, Nick Davis, Paul Dupree, Kathryn Lilley, Shaul Yalovsky)
We are also developing approaches to explore how root hairs benefit plants and ecosystems; many functions for root hairs have been suggested, including nutrient uptake, water uptake, and anchorage of plants to the ground, but strong experimental evidence is mostly restricted to the uptake of a few nutrients, such as phosphate. New approaches are required to address root hair function.
  2. Role and regulation of ROP small GTPases and their regulators in root hair growth (Matt Smallman, Eric Lalanne, Sarah Usher, Zhenbiao Yang)
  3. Regulation of root hair development by auxin (Angharad Jones, Colin Lazarus, Ottoline Leyser)
  4. Response of root development to the light environment (Fran Salisbury, Karen Halliday)
  5. Potential to model root hair development (Gordon Breen, Peter Green)


Current projects are listed on the lab member pages.


'''Towards virtual root hair cells?'''
[[Grierson Lab|Grierson Lab homepage]]      [[Grierson Lab:Back Door|Lab Members]]
 
Root hair cells offer an outstanding opportunity to study the entire development of a plant cell in the context of a developing organ. Throughout their lives, from cell divisions in the transparent root meristem, to the production and function of mature root hairs, hair cells and their contents are visible, and for most of this time, readily accessible at the root surface. Arabidopsis root hair genetics is very well established, and together with the results of transcriptomics, data mining, reverse genetics, and cell biology, is revealing processes that control the patterning of hair and non-hair cells, the expansion and elongation of root hair cells before root hair growth, root hair cell polarity, and root hair development itself. All of these processes involve dynamic interactions between components, and dynamic models are required to test current hypotheses about mechanisms. In collaboration with other root hair researchers and the CIPB virtual root project, we are contemplating the ambitious goal of integrating knowledge of transcriptional regulation, hormone signalling and responses, cell wall properties and regulators, and the cell growth machinery to produce useful models of virtual root hair cells in the context of a virtual root.

Latest revision as of 10:09, 29 November 2010

Research Interests

We are interested in root hair development and differentiation. Starting with the genetic network of root hair growth, which enabled us to identify gene products of central importance, we continue to pursue several gene functions in detail whilst simultaneously using integrative approaches to the process as a whole.

Understanding how dynamic interactions produce changes in phenotype, like different patterns of growth and development, is essential for our work on root hairs, but there is surprisingly little previous work to go on. We are addressing this with some fundamental research into network dynamics and the dynamics of biochemical processes.

We are also developing approaches to explore how root hairs benefit plants and ecosystems; many functions for root hairs have been suggested, including nutrient uptake, water uptake, and anchorage of plants to the ground, but strong experimental evidence is mostly restricted to the uptake of a few nutrients, such as phosphate. New approaches are required to address root hair function.

Current projects are listed on the lab member pages.

Grierson Lab homepage      Lab Members

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