Cutting Edge Research
The Plant and Crop Sciences Division is currently composed of 24 research groups, many of which employ Arabidopsis, tomato or cereals as a focus for their studies. These laboratories carry out research on a variety of fundamental processes and their applications in the regulation of plant growth and development and crop productivity.
Projects focusing on the regulation of root growth and development have led to the isolation and characterisation of a family of auxin transporters that control root gravitropism and lateral root development. Members of the Division are actively involved in the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology that aims to create a virtual model of the Arabidopsis root. By embracing disciplines such as mathematics, engineering, computer science, as well as plant science, researchers aim to model root development at multiple physical (e.g. molecular, cellular and organ levels) and temporal scales, helping their research become more quantitative, integrative and predictive.
Projects focusing on the regulation of fruit ripening and cell separation processes have led to the identification of genes central to the control of texture changes, pigment biosynthesis and ethylene production and through the application of novel gene silencing techniques, a spectrum of fruit ripening events have been attenuated in transgenic plants. This research area attracts substantial industrial support. Nottingham is also spearheading, with Imperial College , Scottish Crops Research Institute and the Sanger Institute , the UK contribution to the International Project to Sequence the Tomato Genome. The study of cell separation has also attracted major investment from industrial sponsors resulting in the discovery that seed pod and anther opening are controlled by similar mechanisms and GM oilseed rape plants have been generated with a reduced capacity for seed shedding.
A major concern when growing transgenic crops is that transgenes could be transferred to native weed species or non-transgenic crops and members of the Division are studying ways to overcome this problem. Different aspects of plant sexual and asexual reproduction are being explored ranging from the molecular events associated with flowering, pollen biogenesis and dispersal, to the genetic mechanisms controlling self-incompatibility.
The interactions between plants, their environment, and other organisms are also being intensively studied in the Division. Research on plant responses to environmental stresses has focused on the effects of rising carbon dioxide and ozone levels on the growth, reproductive biology and yield of agricultural and native species and the role of ethylene and ABA biosynthetic pathways on plant stress responses. A major programme is underway investigating the impact of elevated and suppressed concentrations of abscisic acid on plant growth and development and how this may be manipulated for drought resistance. Work is also ongoing to understand the physiological processes of heavy metal uptake by roots and develop strategies for the phytoremediation of contaminated soils.
Innovative techniques are being employed to study plant-microbe Interactions. The use of pheromones produced by gram-negative bacteria to coordinate cell population density is being exploited to produce transgenic plants resistant to bacterial damage or capable of signalling to beneficial micro organisms. Similarly, genes induced in interactions between fungal pathogens and plants are being characterised for improved crop protection. This fundamental research, combined with more applied research on resistance genes and biological and chemical control methods, places the Division in a leading position for the development and exploitation of integrated disease control strategies.
Find out more about the specialist research interests of the academic staff in the Plant and Crop Sciences and their most recent publications.
Recent PhD Studies
The following areas have been or are currently being researched by PhD or MPhil students in the Plant and Crop Sciences Division:
• Dissecting the genetic regulation of root architecture in cereals (BBSRC)
• Analysing developmental morphology of plastids during fruit ripening (Gatsby Charitable Trust)
• Protein-protein interactions of transcription factors regulating pollen development (BBSRC)
• Effects of over-production of ABA on whole plant water use (BBSRC)
• Soil compaction: mediation of plant responses by root-sourced abscisic acid and ethylene (NERC)
• Studies on physiological effects of strobilurin and related fungicides on wheat (Dupont)
• Studies on beet western yellow virus in oilseed rape (Syngenta)
• Investigating the long-term impact of organic conversion strategies (HGCA)
• Flowering and seed development of flowering in the tropics (Ghanaian Government)
• Nutritional evaluation of bambara groundnut (Chevening)
• The implications of climate change for crop productivity in the Cameroon (Overseas Research Scholarship)
Contact
For further information, please contact the Postgraduate Advisor for the Plant and Crop Sciences Division
Dr Ian Taylor
Plant and Crop Sciences Division
School of Biosciences
University of Nottingham
Sutton Bonington Campus
Loughborough
Leicestershire LE12 5RD
Tel: 0115 951 6335 Fax: 0115 9516334
Email: Ian.Taylor@nottingham.ac.uk
PhD studentships available in the Plant and Crop Sciences Division are advertised within the School of Biosciences Postgraduate vacancies . The School has approximately 200 PhD students. Between 15 and 20 research studentships are advertised between December and April.