Ellie Fletcher - Outline of PhD Project

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Re-engineering Golgi dynamics in plants to increase plant cell size

The growing global population requires the development of novel strategies to sustainably increase food production. Plants contain compartments within their cells called organelles. Organelle movement is dynamic and linked to changes in cell size, plant biomass and in response to factors which affect food production, such as pathogens (Perico and Sparkes, New Phytol. 2018; Ryan and Nebenführ, Plant Physiol. 2018). Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms which drive and regulate organelle movement is poor, as is our understanding as to how movement affects cell growth. The project will identify the molecular components which drive organelle movement, more specifically the Golgi., an important organelle for the secretory pathway (Neumann et al., Annals of Bot. 2003). By mutating the identified molecular tools, we will then be able to re-engineer Golgi movement and determine how changes in movement affect cell size.