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SUMMARY:Understanding morphogenesis  and wall mechanics in brown algae - M
 arina Linardic\, 1st yr grad
DTSTART:20150430T100000Z
DTEND:20150430T103000Z
UID:TALK58760@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Megan Cooper
DESCRIPTION:Brown algae (Phaeophyta\, Heterokontophyta) are multicellular 
 photosynthetic organisms which inhabit marine environments. Their cells ha
 ve a cell wall\, a feature that they share with land plants and with green
  and red macroalgae. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the history of t
 he brown algal species is not related to these other plant groups\, and th
 at heterokont multicellularity developed independently from the other mult
 icellular lineages. However\, besides basic studies on the cell polarity a
 nd development\, little is known about their development and growth. \nThe
  aim of this project is to reveal the underlying physio-chemical mechanism
 s governing growth in brown algae. The goals are to describe in detail the
  development of these algae at two selected developmental stages (zygote a
 nd apex)\, characterize cell wall mechanics and biochemistry during morpho
 genesis\, work towards understanding the role of auxin in the patterning\,
  and investigate the effect of a changed environment on their growth and c
 ell wall mechanics. The experiments will involve characterizing the growth
  of the specimens using light and confocal microscopy\, determining the ce
 ll wall polysaccharide components through immunolocalization and biochemic
 al analyses\, quantifying cell wall mechanics using atomic force microscop
 y (AFM)\, and identifying and manipulating genes of interest using RNAseq 
 and RNAi. The zygote work will be carried out in Fucus sp. The apical patt
 erning work will be comparative between three species with different apica
 l patterns: Fucus (dichotomous branching)\, Sargasum (spiral organ placeme
 nt)\, and Halidrys (alternate organ placement).\n
LOCATION:Sainsbury Laboratory
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