plant development and organogenesis

Biologia Molecolare dello Sviluppo e dell'Evoluzione delle Piante

Biologia Molecolare dello Sviluppo e dell'Evoluzione delle Piante

The research group investigates the molecular and regulatory networks that control the development and diversification of the plant root system. By integrating approaches from developmental biology, evolution and development (evo-devo), physiology, and plant biotechnology, the lab explores how hormonal signals, microRNAs, and gene–environment interactions shape root formation, plasticity, and pattern variability—both across species and within a single species.

From A. rhizogenes RolD to Plant P5CS: Exploiting Proline to Control Plant Development

The capability of the soil bacterium Agrobacterium rhizogenes to reprogram plant development and induce adventitious hairy roots relies on the expression of a few root-inducing genes (rol A, B, C and D), which can be transferred from large virulence plasmids into the genome of susceptible plant cells. Contrary to rolA, B and C, which are present in all the virulent strains of A. rhizogenes and control hairy root formation by affecting auxin and cytokinin signalling, rolD appeared non-essential and not associated with plant hormones.

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