Investigating the role of genes associated to helical growth in the development of climbing stems in Convolvulus arvensis and Autrobaileya scandens

• Grant number: 18/07114-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: September 01, 2018
• End date: October 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Marie-Anne Van Sluys
• Grantee: Mariane Silveira de Sousa Baena
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The appearance of the twining habit during angiosperm evolution, in which plant organs present helical growth, constitutes a key innovation and changed how terrestrial ecosystems functioned. About 65% of eudicot and magnoliid orders have at least one climber species. Plant twining organs follow a helical path, generally of fixed handedness, as they scale a support. Recent genetic findings from studies with Arabidopsis mutants have shown helical arrays of cortical microtubules may be associated with helical growth. In the spiral1-like-4 spiral1-like-3 Arabidopsis double mutant besides hypocotyls and roots, inflorescence stems also grow in a helical fashion and twine around vertical support bars, exactly as stems of natural climbing plants do. Despite the high probability that genes involved in the helical growth of Arabidopsis mutants play a key role in the growth of natural climbing plants, they have never been studied in such organisms. Hence, our goal is to investigate the role of such genes in regulation of the twining habit in stems of selected angiosperm species. We will use an integrative approach combining morphological analysis, light and fluorescence microscopy, and molecular techniques to investigate how changes in stem morpho-anatomy, microtubule orientation, and gene expression profile are correlated inter- and intra-specifically. Transcriptomes of young (straight) and adult/twining stems of Convolvulus arvensis (Convolvulaceae, asterids, apical angiosperm) and Austrobaileya scandens (Austrobaileyaceae, basal angiosperm) will be analyzed through self-organizing maps, which will allow us to identify interspecies dynamic gene expression patterns. Such analysis will allow us to investigate whether an ancestral common molecular mechanism for helical growth is shared by these two distantly related species. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SOUSA-BAENA, MARIANE S.; HERNANDES-LOPES, JOSE; VAN SLUYS, MARIE-ANNE. Reaching the top through a tortuous path: helical growth in climbing plants. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, v. 59, n. SI, FEB 2021. (16/17545-8, 18/07114-5)

SOUSA-BAENA, MARIANE S.; HERNANDES-LOPES, JOSE; VAN SLUYS, MARIE-ANNE. Reaching the top through a tortuous path: helical growth in climbing plants. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, v. 59, p. 8-pg., 2021-02-01. (18/07114-5, 16/17545-8)