PD Dr. Hartwig Lüthen
The plant hormone auxin regulates elongation growth and induces growth responses within minutes. Whereas gene expression changes after some hours following auxin treatment have been well studied, the fast physiological changes leading to elongation have not been studied in detail, likely due to limitations in the size of Arabidopsis organs. We overcome these limitations by different approaches:
Imaging-based phenotyping of auxin mutants: We develop software for image recognition and analysis to monitor fast auxin-induced growth responses of roots and hypocotyl segments in high spatial resolution.
Identification of auxin receptros in elongation growth: We characterize the available auxin receptor and signaling mutants to understand their role for elongation growth. On the receptor level we also study the difference of auxin responses in roots and shoots. Whereas shoot growth is induced, auxin inhibits root growth.
Beyond Arabidopsis: We developed techniques to study elongation growth in other plants such as grasses. We analyze the effect of different stresses on cell wall properties.