Abschlussarbeit

Bachelor/Master Thesis Opportunity in Plant Molecular Biology

Title: Temperature-Nutrient Intergration Driving Plant Growth Plasticity

Global warming has been causing a great suffering for plant growth and crop productivity. Therefore, how plants exactly sense temperature has become a focus of researches. However, plant growth is always affected by multi environment cues. Except temperature, another crucial factor is nutrient supply. Plants have evolved sophisticated regulatory mechanisms to respond to changing environment. There is a strong interaction of nutrient availability and temperature responding for determining growth. For example, experiences from farmers suggest that nitrogen fertilization in rice paddies during summer can alleviate crop lost caused by high temperatures. Together, our research focuses on exploreing underlying mechanisms on how plants integrate these two most important environmental factors: temperature and nitrogen.

In this project, we will start from investigating plant plasticity like hypocotyl elongation and root architecture on different nitrogen concentration under different temperature, to further exploring the underlying molecular mechanisms at transcriptomic and genomic level.

We will work on different accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana and Capsella. You will use state-of-the-art molecular and cell biology approaches to explore how candidate genes influence plant growth at different temperatures and nitrogen.

Experimental approaches can include:

• Generating CRISPR/Cas9 knockout lines in Capsella.
• Performing seedling growth assays under different temperatures and nitorgen concentration and phenotyping on root, hypocotyl and leaf.
• Studying protein localization and dynamics using confocal microscopy and western blot.
• Investigating downstream effects on gene expression using molecular assays (qPCR, reporter lines).
• Protein-protein interactions using IP-MS.

What you will gain:

• Hands-on training in molecular cloning, cell biology genome editing, and plant transformation.
• Experience with microscopy and quantitative image analysis.
• Skills in experimental design, data analysis, and scientific communication.
• Authorship on publication according to your contribution.

Who we are looking for:

• Motivated Bachelor or Master students in biology, plant molecular biology, biotechnology, or related fields.
• Curiosity about plant adaptation and interest in combining molecular and physiological approaches.

The thesis will be conducted in the group ADAPT.1 of Prof. Philip Wigge, Dr. Maolin Peng and Kaijing Zhang at the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ), working at the interface of molecular genetics, cell biology, and environmental responses in plants. 

Relevant papers:

Activation and memory of the heat shock response is mediated by prion-like domains of sensory HSFs in Arabidopsis. Peng M, Jaeger KE, Lu Y, Fan Z, Zeng W, Sampathkumar A, Wigge PA. Mol Plant. 2025 Mar 3;18(3):457-467. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2025.01.007. Epub 2025 Jan 9. PMID: 39789846

A prion-like domain in ELF3 functions as a thermosensor in Arabidopsis. Jung JH, Barbosa AD, Hutin S, Kumita JR, Gao M, Derwort D, Silva CS, Lai X, Pierre E, Geng F, Kim SB, Baek S, Zubieta C, Jaeger KE, Wigge PA.Nature. 2020 Sep;585(7824):256-260. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2644-7. Epub 2020 Aug 26. PMID: 32848244

Temperature Sensing in Plants. Kerbler SM, Wigge PA. Annu Rev Plant Biol. 2023 May 22;74:341-366. doi: 10.1146/annurev-arplant-102820-102235. Epub 2023 Feb 28.

If you are excited to explore how plants integrate temperature and nutirent, we’d love to hear from you! Please send us a short email explaining why you would like to join, along with your contact information, to: wigge@igzev.de; zhang@igzev.de; peng@igzev.de.