This project implements the Ri (root-inducing) technology for ornamental plants. The Ri technology is based on plant inoculation with Agrobacteria rhizogenes, which has a large Ri plasmid and induces hairy root disease, causing root proliferation from the infection site. However, the transformation of this plasmid in the plant genome can improve plants with traits that enable an improved production process and other plant properties. For example, this transformation can reduce demands of application chemical growth regulators, and increase nutrient, water, and light use efficiency.
Ri transformation induces big changes in plant growth, morphology (e.g., compact shoot architecture, root hair formation), and phytohormone concentrations (due to transformation with cytokinin and auxin biosynthesis or metabolism-related genes localized in the rhizogenes vector). How the modulation of these morphological and physiological traits in Ri plants affects plant adaptation to different environmental stresses is unknown and requires investigation.
You perform experiments under control conditions with the aim to obtaining a mechanistic understanding of modulation induced by Ri transformation to low nitrogen supply. You will work with contrasting Kalanchoe plants (control and Ri-transformed). In this study, various analytical and molecular approaches (e.g., metabolite and gene expression analysis) will be used to gain insight into the physiological mechanisms underlying the effect of Ri transformation in nitrogen use efficiency.
The alternative opportunity is open to study the effect of Ri-transformation on phosphorus- and light-use efficiency.
The project is aligned to UN's SGD:
