Offerte TESI PER I CORSI DI LAUREA MAGISTRALE

On our planet, plants are threatened by climate change and limited water resources. The ultimate goal of the researchers in Conti’s lab is to understa ...

On our planet, plants are threatened by climate change and limited water resources. The ultimate goal of the researchers in Conti’s lab is to understand how plants respond to water deficit with a focus on drought escape, a phenomenon by which a plant undergoing a drought spell anticipates flowering to set seeds before stress becomes too severe
We do so using different interconnected approaches:
1) Molecular basis of the GA-ABA cross-talk in vegetative tissues. Gibberellin acids (GA) and Abscisic Acid (ABA) are long-studied hormones with well-designated functions in plant development. This project investigates unexpected new evidence related to GA-ABA crosstalk. The student will have the opportunity to genotype multiple genes mutants to characterize them at the phenotypical and molecular levels, while will learning a wide range of molecular and biochemical techniques.
2) Discovery of GI-containing protein complexes. In our lab, we previously discovered that ABA promotes early flowering by influencing the circadian clock component GIGANTEA (GI). How GI, a protein unable to bind DNA, is capable of influencing gene expression in response to ABA is the main focus of this thesis. By using an advanced untargeted mass spectrometry approach, the student will identify the proteins in GI-containing complexes aiming to unveil the molecular machinery connecting drought, ABA, the circadian clock, and flowering.
3) Decipher flowering time dynamics under drought stress. In the context of an international research program, we identified several candidate genes that might be involved in the drought escape response. The student will test these candidates using targeted mutagenesis by CRISPR, genetics, and phenotyping to dissect the ABA effects on flowering from its general responses to stress.