The highly competitive ERC Synergy grants are designed to support collaborative research efforts that address complex, ambitious scientific challenges beyond the scope of individual researchers. Stéphanie Robert, professor of plant physiology at SLU and Umeå Plant Science Centre, will lead the project STARMORPH, which has received €10 million in funding over six years.
Creating a spatio-temporal map for auxin dynamics
The project will focus on auxin - a plant hormone crucial to various aspects of plant development. For example, auxin plays a key role in promoting root and stem growth and is essential for organ formation.
Over the next six years, Stéphanie Robert will collaborate with Ondřej Novák from the Institute of Experimental Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences (Czech Republic), Jürgen Kleine-Vehn from the University of Freiburg (Germany), and Alexander Jones from the Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge (UK). Together, they aim to address the fundamental question of how auxin contributes to so many aspects of plant development.
STARMORPH introduces the innovative concept of an “auxin signature” which reflects auxin levels not only in organs, tissues, or cells but also within specific cellular compartments integrating cellular responses to developmental and external signals.
“The subcellular compartmentalization of auxin is still poorly understood,” explains Stéphanie Robert. “We believe that auxin’s specific effects are not solely determined by its overall concentration but rather by its unique subcellular distribution and how it is perceived at the different sites within the cell, creating an ‘auxin perception signature.’”
By combining their expertise in a multidisciplinary synergy, the project partners aim to map auxin dynamics with high temporal and spatial resolution. They will apply a wide range of different methods including advanced microscopy techniques, highly sensitive quantification methods of auxin and the usage of biosensors.
Their focus will be on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, specifically its apical hook - a structure essential for seedling survival during soil emergence. While growing in the soil, the seedling bends forming a hook to protect the delicate apex from mechanical damage. Once reaching the light, the hook is abolished, and the plant opens its leaves toward the sun.
“The hook is an excellent model for studying growth transition and plant development in general,” explains Stéphanie Robert. “Our findings could lead to a paradigm shift in understanding how auxin influences plant growth and organ formation at the cellular and subcellular levels, potentially driving advancements in plant engineering and biotechnology.”
Stéphanie Robert works at SLU's Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology and Umeå Plant Science Center (UPSC), which is a collaboration between SLU and Umeå University. This year UPSC will receive two synergy grants from the ERC; the second is the project RESYDE - Re-engineering symmetry breaking in development and evolution, where Stephan Wenkel from Umeå University is a co-applicant.
Press release from ERC
https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/news/erc-2024-synergy-grants-results
Contact
Stéphanie Robert, Professor
Umeå Plant Science Centre
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå
Email: stephanie.robert@slu.se
https://www.upsc.se/stephanie_robert
Press images
(May be published without charge in articles about this press release, please include the name of the photographer).
Stéphanie Robert. Photo: Erik Abel
(Top photo) From the left : Alexander Jones, Stéphanie Robert, Jürgen Kleine-Vehn and Ondřej Novák, in connection with interviews in Brussels. Photo: Stéphanie Robert
