Umeå Plant Science Centre - Growth and Adaptation

Arabidopsis wild-type plant exposed to cold temperatures (photo: Vaughan Hurry)

Plants are sessile organisms that need to continuously adjust their growth and development in response to changes in their environment, and these adjustments can come at the expense of growth. At UPSC, we study how plants balance growth and adaptation in coordination with photosynthesis, which is central for plant growth.

In our research, we investigate different factors that affect the photosynthetic and adaptive capacity of plants. We study how plants react to environmental changes like different light quality and intensities, temperature, water and nutrient availability. One important research question for us is to understand how the carbon that is assimilated during photosynthesis is used for growth and storage. We examine how the assimilated carbon is used for wood formation in trees, how cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin synthesis is regulated, and how this shapes wood properties and tree performance. Regulation of seasonal growth is another important question, as is understanding how microbes like fungi and bacteria interact with plants, how this affects carbon storage in the forest, and how the environment influences this interaction. To do this research, we mainly use model plants such as the annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana and the model tree species such as aspen, birch, spruce and pine.

Our aim is to generate knowledge that can lead to the development of new tools and the identification of tree varieties that can cope with the changing climate, and that can lead to practical applications, such as enhancing growth conditions for spruce and pine seedlings in nurseries.