Plant geometry - understanding the molecular basis of gravitropism and growth angle control

向地性是控制植物结构的一个基本过程，然而，尽管经过一个多世纪的研究，人们对初生根和芽维持垂直生长的机制仍然知之甚少。利兹大学的Kepinski和Peckham小组最近的工作结合了分子和遗传方法以及新的植物成像/计算机视觉技术，揭示了植物在重力场中检测其方向并相应地改变其生长的基本机制的本质的关键线索。该项目将利用遗传学、生物化学和细胞生物学的方法来探索和扩展这些新见解，以阐明在专门的重力感应细胞内沉积的淀粉体的物理信号如何转化为控制植物器官内生长素分布的生化信号，并最终控制它们在重力下的生长角度。

Gravitropism is a fundamental process in the control of plant architecture and yet despite more than a century of research the mechanisms by which primary roots and shoots maintain vertical growth remain poorly understood. Recent work in the Kepinski and Peckham groups at the University of Leeds have combined molecular and genetic methods and novel plant imaging/computer vision techniques to uncover crucial clues as to the nature of the basic mechanism by which plants can detect their orientation in the gravity field and alter their growth accordingly. This project will explore and extend these new insights using genetic, biochemical and cell biological approaches, to elucidate how the physical signal of sedimenting amyloplasts within specialised gravity-sensing cells is converted into a biochemical signal that controls the distribution of auxin within plants organs and ultimately their angle of growth with respect to gravity.