Rea Antoniou-Kourounioti - Modelling how plants sense and remember winter
| Dates: | 18 May 2020 |
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| Times: | 14:00 - 15:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Department of Mathematics |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Current University students |
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| Speaker: | Rea Antoniou-Kourounioti |
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(via Zoom)
Join us for this seminar by Rea Antoniou-Kourounioti (John-Innes Centre) as part of the Mathematics in the Life Sciences Series.
Abstract: To ensure reproductive success, many plants align their flowering with spring, avoiding the harsh conditions of winter, by a process called “vernalization” (before they can flower, plants must sense a prolonged period of cold). We used experiments in field and lab conditions as well as mathematical modelling, to understand how plants perceive the cold and how different temperature signals are integrated. In this work, we used a variety of simple models including ODE and multicellular models, finally combining a subset of these into a composite ODE model. The full ODE model we developed was able to predict the expression of two key vernalization genes, showing that it can forecast how changing climates may impact vernalization. The model development led to breakthroughs in mechanistic understanding of temperature sensing and epigenetic regulation. In particular, it provided a new view of temperature sensing, including a novel physical mechanism for recording long-term temperature information that involved plant growth.
Details of the zoom meeting ID and link will be sent via the Maths in the Life Sciences mailing list. If you have missed the e-mail please contact the seminar organiser directly (carl.whitfield@manchester.ac.uk).
To subscribe to the mailing list for this event series, please send an e-mail with the phrase “subscribe math-lifesci-seminar” in the message body to listserv@listserv.manchester.ac.uk
Speaker
Rea Antoniou-Kourounioti
Role: Postdoctoral Scientist
Organisation: John Innes Centre
Travel and Contact Information
