Functional analysis of th OCTOPUS protein

As part of the study of vascular tissue development in Arabidopsis thaliana, we characterized a mutant affected in the commitment of phloem differentiation. The corresponding gene encodes a protein of unknown function expressed in the phloem initials and addressed polarly to the membrane. This gene belongs to a multigene family that has a functional redundancy in the establishment of meristems.
The project will involve the functional characterization of the protein OCTOPUS through molecular genetic approaches, cell biology, cytology and biochemistry. This study will include several complementary analyses: (1) phenotypical, physiological and genetic analysis of the clade comprising the gene Octopus (2) study of protein localization and mechanisms leading OPS protein to the membrane, (3) study of OCTOPUS interacting proteins.

PhD subject IJPB 2011 from research group Cell differentiation and polarity