Rhynie Chert Phil Trans special issue out

A collection of papers arising from this spring's Rhynie Chert Discussion meeting at the Royal Society is now available online here.  My talk from the discussion meeting is available at this link from the Royal Society, and I wrote a review with Jenny Morris on the evolution of vascular plant shoots and leaves for the special issue, which you can download here.

Gene editing post open at BristolPlantSci

BristolPlantSci has a position open to establish gene editing platforms in a range of plant species. The post is advertised here, and it closes on the 4th January.

Lab manager vacancy

BristolPlantSci has a new vacancy here for a lab manager to support the vibrant plant science grouping. We are looking for someone with a high level of plant molecular biology expertise and high personal and professional standards. A detailed description of the role and our wishes for the appointee are given in the SUPP103621 Job Description. The role is open-ended.

BBSRC SWBioDTP studentship open to work on Marchantia plant shape determination.

Supervisors: Dr Jill Harrison and Dr Martin Homer.

Plant shapes range from tiny string or mat-like forms to massive multilayered upright forms with complex organ systems such as shoots, roots and leaves. Despite these wide differences in shape, many plant gene families are very ancient, predating shape diversification. We can therefore study mechanisms for shape determination in simple plants such as liverworts, and use the knowledge gained to understand plant shape determination in general.

To this end, we previously used a combination of live imaging, statistical model fitting, computational modelling and molecular biology to discover mechanisms regulating shape in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha (Solly et al. (2017): Current Biology).

We found that Marchantia undergoes a stereotypical sequence of shape transitions during development. The overall shape depends on regional growth rate differences that are specified by the growing apical notches. Computational modelling showed that a diffusible, growth-promoting cue produced in the notches is likely to pattern these regional growth rate differences, and pharmacological experiments suggested that the plant hormone auxin equates to this growth-promoting cue.

New models suggest a role for differential oriented growth (anisotropy) in Marchantia shape determination. Anisotropy emerges as an outcome of underlying tissue polarities, and directional auxin transport may have a role.

Your project will build on the work above to determine how auxin contributes to plant shape determination in Marchantia.

It will:

1. Predict the effects of different tissue polarities on Marchantia shape by modelling

2. Analyse the auxin distribution in Marchantia and compare it to distributions predicted by modelling

3. Disrupt auxin biosynthesis, directional transport, conjugation and decay and test the effect on growth and shape

4. Use live-imaging, image segmentation and quantitative growth analyses to discover how growth and shape change in plants with different auxin biology.

Training:

By combining computational and wet lab approaches, your project work will provide training at the cutting edge of the plant evolution and development fields. You will benefit from further formal teaching and internships included in the SWBioDTP programme. The skills and techniques you learn will be broadly applicable in the academic biology and biotech sectors and widely transferable amongst areas such as science policy, publishing and computing.

Reading:

Harrison (2017). Development and genetics in the evolution of plant body plans. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 372: 20150490.

Hong and Roeder (2017). Plant development: differential growth rates in distinct zones shape and ancient plant form. Current Biology 27: R19-21.

Solly et al. (2017). Regional growth rate differences specified by apical notch activities regulate liverwort thallus shape. Current Biology 27: 16-26.

Whitewoods and Coen (2017). Growth and development of three-dimensional plant form. Current Biology 27: R910-918.

Further information:

The deadline for applications is 4th December 2017. Please contact Dr Jill Harrison (jill.harrison@bristol.ac.uk) for informal discussions about the project. Further information about project supervisors’ work can be found on Jill Harrison and Martin Homers’ home pages. Further information about the SWBioDTP and application procedures is listed on the SWBioDTP web pages.

Gene editing workshop in Bristol, 26th to 27th March 2018

Bristol is hosting a GARNet, New Phytologist and Bristol Centre for Agricultural Innovation sponsored workshop in the spring next year, co-organised by Geraint Parry (GARNet), Helen Harper and I.

Confirmed speakers and registration information are listed on the GARNet website: https://garnet-ge-workshop.weebly.com/

The workshop will include extended discussions at the conclusion of each session and will feature the practical and ethical considerations surrounding the use of gene editing technology. The opening plenary is given by Stefan Jansson, the famous chef of the first gene edited meal!!

We have set aside 9 opportunities for talks selected from abstracts, and also have  two poster sessions. This workshop is just £65 for early career researchers and £130 for members of faculty. Numbers are limited to 100 delegates so please sign up early :)

Paper on moss branching out :-)

 

Yoan Coudert, Neil Bell, Claude Edelin and I have been working together on the developmental basis of branching form diversfication in mosses, and our paper in New Phytologist is out today here. Our bayesian character mapping demonstrates a series of innovations giving rise to shape variation in pleurocarpus species. In combination with predictions made by modelling and developmental genetics from our eLIFE (2015) paper, the results provide a framework for identifying the mechanisms that allowed diverse moss forms to arise during evolution. 

Yoan's ATIP-Avenir fellowship in France aims to realise this goal, and his research is likely to reveal fundamental insights into patterning mechanisms in plants.

Paper on moss form diversification accepted

A pleurocarpus moss showing 

clustered sporophytes on top 

of a highly branched gametophore

(Photo: www.musgosdechile.cl)

Yoan Coudert, Neil Bell, Claude Edelin and I have been working together on the developmental basis of branching form diversfication in mosses. Our bayesian character mapping demonstrates a series of innovations giving rise to shape variation in pleurocarpus species, and the results will be published soon in New Phytologist. In combination with predictions made by modelling and developmental genetics from our eLIFE (2015) paper, the results provide a framework for identifying the mechanisms that allowed diverse moss forms to arise during evolution. 

Yoan's ATIP-Avenir fellowship in France aims to realise this goal, and his research is likely to reveal fundamental insights into patterning mechanisms in plants.

Great opportunity for early career resaerchers in Bristol

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/vc-fellowships/about/

Summer studentship opportunity

The British Society for Developmental Biology has advertised funded 8-week summer studentships in this link.

I would welcome applications from undergraduate students interested in starting work to identify mechanisms for branching in the lycophyte, Selaginella kraussiana.

Polar auxin transport is a key determinant of branch initiation and branch outgrowth in flowering plants such as Arabidopsis. Axial polar auxin transport is conserved between moss and vascular plant sporophytes, and transport via PIN proteins may have been involved in the innovation of sporophytic branching. However, links between polar auxin transport and branching remain to de demonstrated in seedless vascular plants. This project will use a combination of surgical and molecular approaches to identify such links.

If you are interested in coming to do the project in my lab, please get in touch by the end of february with a CV including the names of two referees, and an explaination of the reasons why you would like to come.

My e-mail address is jill.harrison@bristol.ac.uk.

Congratulations to Zoe Nemec Venza

Zoe has been awarded funding to attend the Interdisciplinary Spring School on Plant and Animal Morphogenesis that will be held in Montpellier from 25th February to 4th March.

The workshop will focus mainly on how genetics and evolution determine morphogenesis in plant and animal development, but there will be also an introduction on how to apply computational modelling to developmental studies.
It will benefit her PhD studies on the role of CLAVATA genes on morphogenesis in the moss, Physcomitrella patens.

Dispatch on Jeremy's paper

Thanks to Lilan Hong and Adrienne Roeder for their nice dispatch on our recent paper on Marchantia shape determination.