SYSFLO

Training in Systems Biology Applied to Flowering

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'We will educate and train young scientists to apply an interdisciplinary systems-based approach to complex biological questions using plant reproduction as a model system. Systems approaches are not routinely taught, have been identified as an area requiring urgent PhD-level training in some European countries and require network-scale working practices. We have assembled a team with International research reputations in two key areas for the success of this project: half are experimental and half are computational/mathematical scientists. We will place 9 PhD students under the supervision of this team, focussed on this single biological problem. Students assigned to experimental groups will use advanced techniques to generate data for the computational groups. The computational students will inform, analyse, interpret and model the data and their models will be validated by the experimental groups. A series of laboratory placements will ensure a wide range of subject-specific training and exchanges between the experimental and computational groups will lead to a greater understanding at the interface of these disciplines. The integration of a team of PhD students into this project, so that they each see their contributions as essential and integral parts of the success of the strategy, combined with the supervison and co-ordinated discipline-specific and generic training schedule will produce a cohort of young scientists trained in systems biology. The core skills and approaches that will be instilled into the young scientists and the integration of industry into the project, will equip them to take a systems approach to any biological question and prepare them for a career in an academic or industrial environment. Scientific outcomes will include the use of advanced techniques to provide the quantity and quality of data required to model floral regulation, the use of computational approaches to generate predictive models and their experimental validation.'

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Formation of a flower is an incredibly complex process involving vegetative and reproductive growth. The 'Training in systems biology applied to flowering' (http://www.sysflo.eu (SYSFLO)) project has used a systems approach to the genetic control networks involved.

Training nine early stage researchers (ESRs) in the process, SYSFLO used advanced data collection and analysis techniques to generate a flowering model in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The researchers' main focus was the master genetic regulators in the flowering control network. Already identified, these control genes have an influence over many biochemical cascades.

At the crux of the complexities is the fact that changes in expression of a few key genes affects thousands of genes downstream. Furthermore, key transcription factors can act together. For example, APETALA 1 1 (AP1) and SEPALLATA 3 (SEP3) form a complex that targets genes involved in leaf arrangement and therefore flower position. In another partnership, SEP3 forms a complex with SEEDSTICK (STK) that controls the gene VERDANDI, which has an important and direct role in fertilisation.

Again, looking at SEP1-4, AP1 and STK, the genes act in a partly overlapping, yet sometimes targeted fashion, depending on the stage of reproduction and flowering. This level of robustness in the system may make possible the control of development using environmental cues.

The team also looked at the role of plant hormones, in particular gibberellin (GA). Experiments revealed that GA action occurs before the floral transition promoter (FT) in leaf tissue. However, GA effect is observable downstream of FT in the apical shoot meristem where the cells are actively dividing.

SYSFLO has developed a team of highly qualified young researchers in the collection and analysis of data for modelling complex systems in biology. Deliverables in the flowering and reproduction arena can be applied in the agriculture and horticulture sectors where these processes are key for seed and fruit production. The systems biology approach is potentially transferable to many complex control scenarios in living systems.