Kinematics of seedling elongation

Revision as of 12:07, 23 February 2012 by Micha (talk | contribs)

Kinematics of seedling elongation


Background: Upon germination, plants need to grow to reach the light and set up their photosyntethic apparatus. This growth is initially sustained by the limited energy resources available in the seed. This is a crucial process, as they have to reach the light and be able to produce their own energy before running out of energy. Insight into this process can be gained by a detailed investigation of the kinematics of growth in various conditions.

Goal: The goal of this project is to characterize and model the growth pattern of Arabidopsis seedlings in various light conditions. The student will first collect data using a software developed for that purpose (hypoPhen) and develop a mathematical model of hypocotyl elongation. They will try to investigate whether the data is in agreement with the model, and whether they can reproduce observations described in the scientific literature.

Mathematical tools: Ordinary differential equations and statistics

Biological or Medical aspects:


Supervisors: Micha Hersch

Students:

References: <biblio>

  1. cole2011 pmid= 21288269

</biblio>