A group of plant scientists from Europe and Australia has been awarded the prestigious Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) totalling 10 million euros. The RESYDE (Re-engineering symmetry breaking in development and evolution) research project is coordinated by Prof Dr Kerstin Kaufmann from the Department of Biology at Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin (HU) and is dedicated to one of the most complex questions in the life sciences: How do multicellular organisms produce their form. The RESYDE project aims to decipher the processes of symmetry breaking in plant development using the example of Arabidopsis thaliana flowers and combine different methods to create a dynamic, virtual model of the developing flower.
Symmetry breaking: a fundamental biological phenomenon in multicellular organisms
Symmetry breaking is the process by which a symmetrical, homogeneous structure develops patterns that lead to cells and tissues with different forms and functions. This fundamental biological phenomenon is of crucial importance in all multicellular organisms. For example, a human body develops from a single fertilised egg cell or different flower organs develop from a group of identical plant cells. In plants, symmetry-breaking processes are controlled by a variety of mechanisms, including gene and hormone regulation and direct communication between cells. All these mechanisms are important for understanding how plants build their final structures.
Basic research with significance for regenerative medicine and agriculture
"By addressing the complex dynamics of symmetry breaking, this research has the potential to open up new avenues of research in plant development and evolutionary biology," says Prof Dr Kerstin Kaufmann. Even though there has already been substantial progress in this field of research, it is an immense challenge to model and reproduce such biological development processes. Research findings in this field will not only advance our fundamental understanding of plant biology, they are also of crucial importance for the further development of regenerative medicine and for advances in agriculture.
Expertise from four universities enables promising multidisciplinary approach
Prof Dr Kerstin Kaufmann from the Department of Biology at Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin (HU) is leading the six-year partnership to research these pattern formation processes. She is coordinating the project, in which HU scientists are collaborating with colleagues from the University of Sydney (Australia), the Sainsbury Laboratory at the University of Cambridge (UK) and Ume? University (Sweden).
To answer the questions with a multidisciplinary approach, the research teams rely on the expertise in the individual institutes: HU biologist Kerstin Kaufmann has already made progress in understanding gene regulatory networks in the developing flower; Associate Professor Marcus Heisler (University of Sydney) has developed live imaging and advanced experimental approaches; Professor Henrik J?nsson (University of Cambridge) has built a computational platform that integrates cell dynamics and modelling of a central regulatory network that controls flower pattern formation, and Professor Stephan Wenkel (Ume? University) has identified innovative protein-based tools for synthetic biology. Together, they want to virtually redesign a complex developmental system - the flower.
"Our vision of better understanding the evolutionary changes in flower structure at the mechanistic level can only be realised by combining our expertise. This includes genetic, molecular, live imaging, AI and computer modelling techniques as well as those of synthetic biology," says Kerstin Kaufmann.
About Prof Dr Kerstin Kaufmann
Kerstin Kaufmann is Professor of Plant Cell and Molecular Biology at the Department of Biology at Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin. Her research group is trying to understand how the developmental processes of plants are controlled by transcription factors in interaction with epigenetic regulators. To this end, they are investigating the molecular modes of action and gene regulatory networks of regulatory proteins using the example of the flower development of thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana).
About the ERC Synergy Grants funding format
The ERC Synergy Grant is a funding initiative that brings together small teams of scientists to help push the boundaries of knowledge on some of the world's most pressing research challenges across multiple scientific disciplines. Researchers are encouraged to combine their different skills, knowledge and resources to develop new methods and techniques. The funding programme is part of the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.
Further information on the programme
Press release of the European Research Council
Contact
Prof. Dr Kerstin Kaufmann
Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin
kerstin.kaufmann@hu-berlin.de