The Project
Molecular basis of cambial development underlying tree growth.
Winner
Yrjö Helariutta
University of Turku
Department of Biology
Turku, Finland
Yrjö Helariutta, 40 years old, is Professor, Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Turku, Finland. A native of Finland, Helariutta graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1990 with an M.Sc in genetics and, in 1995, with a Ph.D in genetics. He is an active member in many international scientific research groups and has authored or co-authored 20 scientific works.
Award
€1,165,014
Project Description
The present focus of the Award winner's group is to understand how the lateral meristem activity of the vascular cambium(*) is genetically controlled. The undifferentiated stem cells of vascular cambium establish the pattern of xylem-(pro)cambium-phloem through asymmetric cell division.
We want to unravel the molecular mechanisms behind the proliferative and formative roles of the cambial stem cells. Genetics in Arabidopsis thaliana is the primary approach. Although Arabidopsis is not a tree, all the major elements of wood development are observed during Arabidopsis ontogeny. We are focusing on the primary development (procambium) of the vascular tissue in the Arabidopsis root, since this is anatomically a very simple developmental model.
On the other hand, in order to reach a deeper understanding of cambial development as a physiological process characteristic to trees, it is important to investigate how well the information from Arabidopsis procambium development is actually applicable to the context o cambium development in a tree system, in our case the silver birch (Betula pendula).
Furthermore, we are aiming at identification of birch mutants that are informative for genetic regulation of cambial development in the trees. It is our hope that the information we produce can have both basis as well as applied dimensions.
(*) Definition - Vascular cambium:
Vascular cambium is a tissue found in the stems of perennial dicots. It is a part of the plant's meristem - series of tissues consisting of embryonic (incompletely differentiated) cells from which other (and more differentiated) plant tissues originates. (Source: Wikipedia)
