14 NSFBIO: Bilateral NSF/BIO-BBSRC - Modeling the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic signaling on cellular differentiation in plants

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Despite the plasticity of plant development, cellular differentiation in plants is remarkablyrobust, even in the presence of perturbations. Thus, a greater understanding of the complexregulatory networks that control cellular development, and how they operate, interact, andrespond to intercellular and extracellular signals is urgently needed to generate plants withincreased biomass and stress-tolerance. We propose that emergent properties of gene regulatorynetworks involved in cellular differentiation can be represented and tested mathematicallyusing information gained from development-specific transcriptomic signatures in response tovarying conditions. To test this hypothesis we are using as a model the Arabidopsis root phloemsieve element, for which we have developed a unique set of molecular, mathematical, and physiologicaltools. Because complete differentiation of the enucleated sieve elements takes place in avery compressed manner, within 20 cells, SEs provide a cell differentiation model of unprecedentedcellular resolution. Our goal is to integrate development-specific transcriptomic, molecularand imaging data, with information about known key regulators using a system of ordinary differentialequations and agent based modeling. This mathematical approach will allow us to gain a comprehensiveand quantitative perspective of the design rules governing the progression from stem cellsto their final stage of differentiation. We aim to iteratively improve the accuracy and strengthof our models by integrating additional data after exposing this cellular process to two disparateperturbations; symplastic isolation and iron deficiency.