Project description
Age and root regeneration in plants
Plant roots anchor the plant and absorb water and nutrients. They rely on special stem cells located in growing regions called meristems. These cells allow roots to grow and regenerate after damage. While young roots have been widely studied, much less is known about how ageing affects their ability to regenerate. This is important because regeneration is important fo crop breeding and genetic modification. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the StemCellAge project will compare regeneration in young and mature roots, analyse gene activity at the single-cell level, and identify key regulators of ageing and repair. By uncovering how root stem cells change over time, the research aims to improve plant regeneration and support future advances in sustainable agriculture.
Objective
Roots are a plant’s source of support, hydration and nutrition. They originate from stem cells located in apical meristems, making stem cell preservation essential for plant survival. To overcome environmental the threats, plants display a great regenerative capacity. Regeneration is also a bottleneck step in the genetic modification of some of the most relevant crops. Thus, understanding stem cell function and regeneration is crucial for crop improvement in order to feed the growing world population. Most root studies focus on the first week of development. Recent work shows evidence of a juvenile-to-adult transition that remains largely unexplored and suggests that the current knowledge on early stages might not apply later. Root tip regeneration is a powerful model to study stem cell reconstitution; however, despite the negative correlation between shoot regeneration potential and age, it has not been studied in older roots. In contrast, transition to adulthood implies an increase in meristem length, a feature positively associated with regeneration capacity, leaving the question open of whether old roots are more or less competent to regenerate than young roots. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms driving the morphological and physiological changes of maturity, and how they impact regeneration, have yet to be unraveled. This project aims to decipher the impact of age on root stem cell homeostasis and regeneration at cellular and molecular level. To this end, I propose to: 1) compare regeneration performance in young and adult roots; 2) record single-cell transcriptional profiles of ageing and regenerating roots; and 3) identify and validate age and regeneration regulators. Combining my expertise on regeneration assays and genetics with the host’s facilities to perform single-cell sequencing, we will advance the understanding of root ageing and regeneration, laying the grounds for future biotechnological applications in plant transformation and crop improvement.
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.
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology genetic engineering
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology cells technologies stem cells
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology homeostasis
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Keywords
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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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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
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.
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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69117 Heidelberg
Germany
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