Research Leader Dr Smita Kurup

Cells adopt their identities during body plan development during embryogenesis. Every cell is produced by cell Department and its fate is dependant on its lineage and position. Although embryo and seed development are vital developmental process, very few transcriptional factors that regulate these stages are known.  The use of a targeted gene expression approach in Arabidopsis i.e. enhancer trap lines, marking developmental stages during embryogenesis will help identify new candidate genes that may play a major role in embryo, seed and meristem development. These lines will allow the identification of genes or regulators that are expressed at a particular developmental stage and also allow the elucidation of the biological function of these regulators.

I also use fluorescent molecular tags combined with laser scanning confocal microscopy (see below) to visualise live plant cells which is a powerful way to address developmental processes, cell fate decisions and functions of developmental regulators.

	A mature Arabidopsis embryo expressing Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum under the control of a CaMV 35S promoter (J Haseloff et al., 1997).
	A guard cell from Arabidopsis expressing the Green fluorescent protein (GFP) fused to Talin under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter (Kost et al., 1998). The Talin protein binds to the actin filaments that show a radial arrangement in open stomata as seen in the image.
	Epidermis of Arabidopsis leaf expressing a cell membrane marker fused to the cyan variant of GFP (ECFP) under the control of a 35S promoter (S. Kurup and J. Haseloff, unpublished).
	Emerging lateral roots of Arabidopsis showing expression of Yellow fluorescent protein fused to a nuclear targeted protein (Boisnard-Lorig et al., 2001).

1) In addition, we are using the Ac/Ds transposon based marker system to study cell lineage patterns in the embryo and root meristem of Arabidopsis (S. Kurup et al. Plant Journal 2005, 42, 444-453). As mentioned earlier, every cell adopts its fate as a consequence of its lineage and position within the tissue. The above system allows us to trace patterns of cell Department and study cell lineage patterns.

2) This system is also being established in wheat (in collaboration with Professor Peter Shewry and Dr Jackie Freeman) to allow us to follow developmental and lineage patterns in the establishment of the aleurone layer in the wheat endosperm.