UPSC Seminar:

Speaker:
Rossana Henriques
Career Track Fellow
Centre de Recerca en Agrigenòmica (CRAG)
Edifici CRAG, Campus UAB
Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallés)
Barcelona

Title:
From genome dark matter to biological regulation: uncovering long non-coding RNA function in plants

Host
Laszlo Bako

Place Lilla hörsalen KB3A9

Title: TBA
Where: KB3A9 15.00

UPSC Seminar

Sepaker:
Claudio Stasolla
Dept. Plant Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

Title:
In vitro plant embryogenesis: improving embryo yield

Place: KB3A9, Lilla hörsalen

Host: Ulrika Egertsdotter

Plant embryogenesis is an essential phase of the plant life cycle and formation of embryos can be stimulated in vitro through the careful selection of media components and environmental conditions. Work in my lab has recently been focussed on the function of plant hemoglobins (Hbs) during somatic embryogenesis in dicots and monocots.   First described in animals, Hbs have now been identified in a variety of organisms including plants where their major function is to scavenge cellular nitric oxide (NO). Suppression of the Arabidopsis class 2 Hb (Hb2) enhances the formation of somatic embryos through the NO-mediated suppression of the transcription factor MYC2. Repression of MYC2 increases IAA accumulation at the sites of embryogenic tissue formation, and favors the formation of Arabidopsis somatic embryos.   In maize the two Hbs: ZmHb1 and ZmHb2 regulate the cell survival/death decision that influences somatic embryogenesis through their cell-specific localization patterns. Suppression of either of the two ZmHbs is sufficient to induce PCD through a pathway initiated by elevated nitric oxide (NO) and zinc (Zn²⁺⁾ levels, and mediated by production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The effect of the death program on the fate of the developing embryos is dependent upon the localization patterns of the two ZmHbs. During somatic embryogenesis, ZmHb2 transcripts are restricted to a few cells anchoring the embryos to the subtending embryogenic tissue, while ZmHb1 transcripts extend to several embryonic domains. Suppression of ZmHb2 induces PCD in the anchoring cells allowing the embryos to develop further, while suppression of ZmHb1 results in massive PCD leading to abortion. It is concluded that regulation of the expression of these ZmHbs has the capability to determine the developmental fate of the embryogenic tissue during somatic embryogenesis through their effect on PCD. These studies place Hbs as central regulators of in vitro embryogenesis

PhD Thesis Defence

Regulation of Metabolic Events during Embryo Development in Norway Spruce (Picea abies L. Karst)

Edward Businge
Department of Forest Genetics & Plant Physiology

Faculty Examiner: Dr. Claudio Stasolla, Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

Supervisor: Ulrika Egertsdotter

Room: P-O Bäckströms sal SLU Umeå

UPSC Seminar
Speaker:
Carole Dubreuil
Post-doc

Title:
Elucidating the mechanisms involved in chloroplast biogenesis by using an Arabidopsis cell culture system

Host Åsa Strand

UPSC Seminar Series 2014
Cutting Edge Seminar

Speaker:
Sabrina Sabatini
Università degli di Roma "La Sapienza"
Rome, Italy

Title: New insight in root meristem size determination and root zonation

Host: Karin Ljung
Place Lilla hörsalen KB3A9

Abstract:
Understanding the molecular mechanisms through which plant meristems are maintained is a central question in developmental biology. In the root of Arabidopsis thaliana, stem cells in the apical region of the meristem self-renew and produce daughter cells that differentiate in the distal meristem transition zone. To ensure root growth, the rate of cell differentiation must equal the rate of generation of new cells. Cell differentiation takes place in the transition zone that is localized in the distal part of the root meristem, but must be synchronized and balanced with division of the stem cells that are localized in the apical part of the meristem. We have previously shown that maintenance of the Arabidopsis root meristem size - and consequently root growth - is controlled by the interaction between two hormones at the meristem transition zone: cytokinins, which promote cell differentiation, and auxin, which promotes cell division.

New data will be presented on the molecular mechanism by which cytokinin induce cell differentiation influencing auxin distribution and, as a consequence, root zonation

UPSC Seminar

Wendy Heywood
University College London, UK

Title:
Targeted Proteomics: Translating Omics to the clinic

Room: N200, Naturvetarhuset
Host: Jonas Gullberg, Gunnar Wingsle,

She is invited to tell us about her recent progress using targeted proteomic methodology.
Everyone interested in this or general proteomics is welcomed.
Her research profile and publication list can be found here:https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=WEHEY77