The plant hormone auxin plays a central role in the growth and development of plants. Auxin acts in a concentration dependent manner and polar cell-to-cell transport of this hormone determines its distribution in the tissues of plants. This polar auxin transport is mediated by several families of auxin…

Increasing the efficiency of gene targeting (GT) as a genome editing tool in plants has been an important goal in plant biotechnology.

This thesis describes the functional analysis of the Arabidopsis AHL15 gene.

Promotor: J.M. Memelink

Promotor: P. J. J. Hooykaas, Co-promotor: R. Offringa

Plants, are sessile organisms, have developed strategies to adapt to changes in their environment, in part by altering their growth and development.

Promotor: P. J. J. Hooykaas Co-promotor: B. S de Pater

Promotor: P.J.J. Hooykaas, Co-Promotor: E.J. van der Zaal

Plant architecture has distinct forms in different plant species, but also within a species the finalarchitecture of a plant is determined by its gradual development and changes therein induced by environmental conditions during the plant’s life cycle.

In this Ph.D. thesis, we characterized two novel upstream regulators of JUB1, HB40, and HB22, in Arabidopsis thaliana. In Chapter 2, we described functions of HB40 in modulating growth and development via the regulation of JUB1 and GA inactivation genes GA2OXs.

Climate change is a challenge for both current and future generations. New biological resources have to be developed in order to meet the demand for energy as well as the demand for food.

Plant-microbe interaction resulted in different physio/chemical responses by host plant and interacting rhizobacteria.

What is the role of auxin in the initiation and process of somatic embryogenesis?

1. What is the exact role of PIN proteins in PAT? 2. How is PIN polarity established, and how is it modulated by AGC kinase-mediated phosphorylation? 3. What is the role of the AGC kinase, as modulators of PAT, in translating environmental signals, such as gravity, light or mechanical stress, to plant…

Do large deletions represent a risk during CRISP/CAS9-mediated genome editing in plants?

The availability of complete plant genome sequences together with the ever increasing amount of data on the molecular, cellular and physiological mechanisms of plant development require mathematical and computational models to obtain a complete overview of and generate new insights into the quantitative…

What are key regulators of plant ageing that can reverse ageing in plants (rejuvenation), and how can we use this knowledge to improve crop plants?

How is vegetative development regulated in plants and how does this affect a plant’s life history strategy?

Identification and characterization of components of DNA repair pathways and their role in Agrobacterium T-DNA integration and repair of CRISPR/Cas induced DSBs.

PhD at the Natural Product Laboratory, Institute of Biology, Leiden University - the Netherlands

Supervisor: P.J.J. Hooykaas Co-Supervisor: R. Offringa

A collaboration between the IBL and LUMC has resulted in the discovery that the polymerase theta enzyme is essential for the integration of Agrobacterium T-DNA into the genome of plants. The finding means a break-through for the development of more efficient systems for targeted genome modification…

PhD Defence

Efficient gene-targeting during meiosis

A selection of recent publications from the Plant BioDynamics Laboratory.

How is Pol θ responsible for T-DNA integration, and how do other DNA double-strand break repair pathways interact with Pol θ? How may we manipulate T-DNA integration to stimulate error-free integration at a predetermined genomic site?

Salicylic acid (SA) is a plant hormone, which is involved in the defense responses to pathogens and to abiotic stress, and in the regulation of plant growth and development.

Associate professor at the Natural Products Laboratory, Institute of Biology, Leiden University - the Netherlands

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Memelink

PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Golm – Germany

PhD Defence

PhD Defence

PhD Defence

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PhD Defence

PhD at Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens - France

Mathematical and computational analysis of the dynamics of polar transport of the plant hormone auxin.

PhD Defence

PhD Defence

How do plants lure microscopically small 'support teams' into their roots for protection against diseases? And what functions are activated in the microbes and the plants?

Plant researchers have been wrong for years about how plant growth and development are regulated, as Yao Xiao pointed out during his PhD project. They overlooked the role of a protein that turns out to be essential, just as it is in the development of animals and yeasts. In plants, it regulates the…

The long term goal of the Biophysical Organic Chemistry/SSNMR group, headed by Prof. Huub de Groot, is to reach an understanding of structure, dynamics and functional mechanisms of membrane proteins and self-organized biological assemblies and to translate this knowledge into new concepts for nano-devices,…

Harvesting rice from the same field, without planting new rice plants? A discovery may bring this scenario closer. Leiden scientists have discovered a gene that allows annual plants to grow after flowering, instead of dying. Publication on 13 April in Nature Plants.

Remko Offringa has been appointed Professor in the field of Plant Developmental Genetics within the Faculty of Science at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) from the 1st of April 2017. Offringa’s research focuses on the role of the plant hormone auxin in controlling plant growth and development,…

Which genes are involved in woodiness and associated traits such as drought tolerance, flowering time, stem elongation, life span, and plant herbivory, and how do these gene regulatory pathways overlap?

Recently, NWO has decided to grant two interdisciplinary research proposals for national and international consortia submitted by researchers from the Institute of Biology Leiden. One of the proposals is led by Prof. dr. Ariane Briegel, the other one by dr. Remko Offringa.