Adaptation of plant architecture to physical stimuli

Interested individuals must follow Steps 1, 2 and 3 at this link on how to apply
http://www.ed.ac.uk/biology/prospective-students/postgraduate/pgr/how-to-apply

Within a wet forest in North East India, there are living bridges made of rubber tree roots. On a gentle hill of Derbyshire, chairs are grown with living willow trees. You might have seen pear trees trained to grow along garden walls in your neighbourhood.

It is clear that plants sense and respond to mechanical stimuli (e.g. touches, bending), especially the pathways reading to wood formation and differentiation. Mechanically induced wood formation, termed reaction wood, is in fact a representative and earliest known example in which organismal development is influenced by physical cues [1]. How cells sense the mechanical distress and induce reaction wood formation remains a fascinating mystery. This question has wider implications underling the remarkable resilience of living architecture, which is equipped with effective systems to prevent wear and tear.

This project aims to elucidate the biological and engineering mechanisms underpinning how physical stimulations alter plant shoot architecture via reaction wood formation. The successful candidate will use both tissue-level and cellular systems to experimentally test mechanical regulation of wood formation. The student will be trained in the state-of-the-art synthetic biology methods (for example, [2]) to generate various reporter constructs to monitor wood formation and differentiation. Single cell study platforms being developed in the group, such as a microfluidic cell traps, will be utilised to apply chemical or physical stimuli with high precisions.

With highly quantitative analyses such as 3D scanning, the student will also contribute to creation of a digital shoot – adaptive computational model of Arabidopsis shoot, which simulates developmental responses to mechanical challenges introduced to the stem. This project consists of theoretical and empirical investigations in parallel, in which one side will be used to test hypothesis generated by the other [similarly to 3].

This project incorporates the latest technologies from multiple disciplines of natural sciences – structural engineering, graphic simulation, and developmental biology - to reveal new insights into how the physical factors impact organismal forms. It will provide a student with a comprehensive training in multi-facets of biology. Candidates motivated for the engineering aspects of living systems and/or the physical science approaches are welcome.

The successful candidate will be supervised by an interdisciplinary team of advisors.
Interested candidates of all nationalities are encouraged to apply. For the first instance, please contact Dr Naomi Nakayama ([Email Address Removed]) with your CV and personal statement explaining why this project interests you.

For more information about the host group the Biological Form + Function Lab, go to: http://bff-ed-ac-uk.weebly.com/.