UPSC Monday Seminarseries 2019

9:00 Evgeniy Donev, half-time PhD seminar
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology

Title: Effects of expressing fungal glucuronoyl esterase (GE) in aspen

Supervisor: Ewa Mellerowicz


9:30 Elsa Demes
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology

Title: Mechanics and dynamics of cell to cell adhesion in plants

Supervisor: Stéphane Verger


Place: Lilla hörsalen
Time: 9:00-10:00

Contact: Anne Honsel

More information can be found here:
https://www.umu.se/en/chemical-biological-centre/kbc_events/kbc-days-2019/

More information can be found here:
https://www.umu.se/en/chemical-biological-centre/kbc_events/kbc-days-2019/

UPSC Monday Seminarseries 2019

9:00 Pushan Bag, half-time PhD seminar

Title: How conifers remain ‘Ever Green’

Supervisor: Stefan Jansson


9:30 Pal Csaba Miskolczi

Title: Systemic and local control of seasonal growth in hybrid aspen

Supervisor: Rishikesh Bhalerao



Place: Lilla hörsalen
Time: 9:00-10:00

Contact: Anne Honsel

UPSC Cutting-Edge Seminar

Miltos Tsiantis
Plant development and diversity, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany

Title: The genetic basis for leaf development and diversity: from understanding to reconstructing

Host: Karin Ljung


More information about Miltos Tsiantis research

UPSC Monday Seminarseries 2019

9:00 Yan Ji

Title: Elucidating the regulatory mechanisms controlling plastid transcription during chloroplast development

Supervisor: Åsa Strand

9:30 János Urbancsok

Title: Endogenous biological effects induced by externally supplemented glucosinolate hydrolysis products on Arabidopsis thaliana

Supervisor: Ewa Mellerowicz


Place: Lilla hörsalen
Time: 9:00-10:00

Contact: Anne Honsel

UPSC Monday Seminarseries 2019

9:00 Andreas Schneider - Half-Time seminar

Title: Microbiota under N addition in the Swedish boreal forest

Supervisor: Nathaniel Street

9:30 Jonathan Przybyla-Toscano

Title: The curious case of the H2-protein in Arabidopsis thaliana

Supervisor: Olivier Keech


Place: Lilla hörsalen
Time: 9:00-10:00

Contact: Anne Honsel

UPSC Seminar

Alain Goossens
VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, Gent, Belgium

Title: A story on bHLH transcription factors in the regulation of plant terpene pathways

Host: Catherine Bellini


More information about Alain Goossens research: https://www.psb.ugent.be/specialized-metabolism


Abstract for the talk:
Across the plant kingdom, hormones such as the jasmonates steer the delicate balance between growth and the activation of defense programs, including the production of bioactive specialized metabolites. Plant cells are capable of producing an overwhelming variety of such specialized metabolites, both in terms of complexity and quantity. These molecules allow plants to cope with various types of stresses and often also have biological activities of high interest to human. Yet, this impressive metabolic machinery is still limitedly exploited, mainly because of the limited molecular insight into plant (specialized) metabolism. All of this is particularly applicable to the important class of plant terpenes as well. By using cutting-edge functional genomics tools in combination with reverse genetics screenings, we try to unravel the molecular mechanisms driving plant natural product biosynthesis in crop, medicinal and model plants, with a particular focus on terpenes.
Transcription factors of diverse families play essential roles in the signaling cascades triggered by the perception of jasmonates. Likewise, jasmonate-modulated transcription factors may act alone or in a combinatorial fashion with others, allowing interplay with other development or defense related processes. The transcription factors of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family play an essential and often conserved role in jasmonate signaling in the plant kingdom in general, and leading to the onset of terpene biosynthesis in particular. I will discuss on the identity, role and mode of action of bHLH factors in the conserved jasmonate-mediated elicitation of terpene metabolism of a number of model, medicinal and crop species, including Arabidopsis thaliana, Medicago truncatula and Catharanthus roseus.

Thesis defence

Abdellah Lakehal
Department of Plant Physiology

Title: A molecular network mediating adventitious root initiation in Arabidopsis thaliana

Faculty opponent: Malcolm Bennett, Plant and Crop Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, UK

Supervisor: Catherine Bellini

UPSC Seminar

Tom Beeckman
Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University and VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, Gent, Belgium

Title: Root branching: cell and tissue communication shape the plant root system

Host: Catherine Bellini


More information about Tom Beeckman's research: https://www.psb.ugent.be/root-development

Abstract of his talk:
Root architecture is a trait that strongly contributes to the performance of plants. The way plant root systems colonize the soil will be determinative for the all or not thriving growth of the above ground parts. Because plants are sessile organisms, the exploration of soil in search of water and nutrients is mainly dependent on steering and controlling cell division and elongation.
The presence of an endogenous tissue layer in which, on a regular basis, stem cells with high cell division competence are deposited represents a powerful instrument through which plants can easily generate new lateral root branches. These branches are not arbitrarily formed along a root axis, but their spacing is rather determined by an endogenous patterning mechanism. Furthermore, it only rarely happens that lateral roots are formed close to each other. Both, the endogenous patterning mechanism combined with lateral inhibition signals guarantee an even distribution of lateral organs over the entire length of the root. New insights in these patterning mechanisms will be discussed with the emphasis on putative cellular and tissue communication systems that are involved.