Dr. Magdalena Weingartner

Plants develop in a modular way and continuously produce new organs from pools of stem cells that are maintained within meristems: the cells of the shoot apical meristem (SAM) give rise to all above-ground organs, whereas the root apical meristem (RAM) generates the root system. Meristems provide a local environment that integrates endogenous signals such as hormones and external signals from the environment to control the balance between cell division and cell differentiation.

We are studying the mechanisms that influence the activity of stem cells and their progenitor cells and thus allow plants to optimally adapt growth and development to environmental conditions. We are trying to understand how cell division activity of stem cells is controlled and how replacement of stem cells by surroundings cells upon injury or cell death occurs. As a model organism we are currently using Arabidopsis thaliana and mutants which are impaired in these processes.

Methods: We are using a wide range of molecular methods for analysis of gene expression patterns, chromatin structure, protein-protein interaction as wells as cell biological methods such as immunocytochemistry and live cell imaging by confocal microscopy.