Project description
Multi-level spatiotemporal map of auxin dynamics during organ formation
Engineering plant growth can contribute to food security. Plant organ formation is highly regulated, with different organ parts growing at different rates. Understanding these differential growth programmes in the context of the mechanical constraints imposed by the tissues is required. The plant hormone auxin plays a central role and can either repress or promote growth. The mechanisms are unclear. The ERC-funded STARMORPH project aims to untangle this in space and time, considering auxin levels in the extracellular space, cytosol and nucleus and their impact on cell responses for morphogenesis. STARMORPH plans to develop a subcellular map of auxin dynamics within a growing organ, revealing how tissue mechanics interact with auxin-dependent growth processes.
Objective
"STARMORPH is a ground-breaking endeavour with the ambitious goal of understanding plant organ morphogenesis, which will pave the way to engineering plant growth. This is of paramount importance for enhancing agricultural and forestry yields and hence contributing to global food security and environmental sustainability. Plant organ morphogenesis involves differential growth, where various organ parts expand at different rates to create specific structures. A significant challenge lies in understanding these differential growth programs while considering the mechanical constraints imposed by the tissues. The plant hormone auxin plays a central role in differential growth. It forms concentration gradients within tissues, dictating the direction and rate of cell expansion. Mechanistically, auxin can either repress or promote growth in a tissue and concentration-dependent manner, but this biphasic behaviour remains largely unexplained. The extracellular space, cytosol, and nucleus have distinct auxin perception mechanisms and hence STARMORPH pitches an ""auxin signature"" concept, considering nuanced auxin levels in each compartment specifying an ensemble signal with quantitative and qualitative cell responses for morphogenesis. Currently, auxin subcellular compartmentalisation is poorly understood, and a key focus of the project is to provide a subcellular map of auxin dynamics within a growing organ to uncover how tissue mechanics interact with auxin-dependent growth processes, which will be pivotal for understanding plant morphogenesis. The STARMORPH project leverages a unique combination of plant, cell and synthetic biology, genetics, biophysics and organic chemistry expertise. This interdisciplinary collaboration aims to dissect plant morphogenesis from molecular to organ scales and has the potential to revolutionise our understanding of plant growth and development, with applications in biotechnology and plant engineering.
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Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biophysics
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries forestry
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC-SYG - HORIZON ERC Synergy Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-SyG
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750 07 Uppsala
Sweden
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