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Investigation of the molecular mechanism of terpene secretion by plant specific ABC transporters Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Plants are chemical factories. They produce specialized metabolites including aromas, flavors and bioactive compounds making them of interest to the various industries. These metabolites play an important role in protection, competition and interaction with their environment. When specialized metabolites accumulate in high amounts, they can be toxic for the plant cells. One way to avoid self- toxicity, is by excreting these metabolites into ...

Combined process of Steam Explosion and Microbial detoxification for improved PREtreatment of lignocellulose biomass (SEMPRE). University of Antwerp

Iris Cornet

Biochemical Wastewater Valorization & Engineering (BioWaVE)

During the thermochemical pretreatment biotechnological production of chemicals from the polysaccharides in lignocellulose, a solid fraction is obtained, consisting mainly of cellulose, and a lignin waste stream, the so-called, xylose rich fraction (XRF). XRF contains some residual sugar, toxic lignin-derived phenolic and sugar-derived furans. The goal of the research project is to investigate a technique to obtain almost complete removal of ...

Detoxification ability of Rhodococcus sp. on the lignin-rich waste stream after steam-explosion (DARLignin). University of Antwerp

Iris Cornet

Biochemical Wastewater Valorization & Engineering (BioWaVE)

The cascade effect of PFAAs. Study of the transcriptional response of Canaries to PFAAs and the relationships with effects in successive levels of biological organization. University of Antwerp

Ana Lopez Antia

Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are highly persistent substances that are found globally in the enviroment, wildlife and humans. Despite the ubiquity of PFAAs, their toxicological and biological effects have not yet been well characterized. We will study the transcriptional response of Canaries exposed to enviromentally realistic concentrations of PFAAs using high throughput sequencing. With this we will be able to assess the molecular key events ...

Identification of cell wall ligands for the root hair growth regulator ERULUS. University of Antwerp

Sébastjen Schoenaers

Integrated Molecular Plant Physiology Research (IMPRES)

Plant cell growth ultimately relies on controlled loosening/strengthening of the cell wall, yielding a matrix that is not too stiff, yet not too loose. Plants have evolved specific mechanisms to sense and control cell wall composition and rigidity, in the form of cell wall binding receptor proteins. In this regard, the Catharanthus roseus Receptor-like Kinase 1-like (CrRLK1L) family of plant proteins has gained major attention during recent ...

Elucidating the role of alternative trans-splicing in the mRNA abundance regulation of Leishmania. University of Antwerp

Bart Cuypers

ADReM Data Lab (ADReM)

Leishmania is a genus of protozoan parasites that cause the disease leishmaniasis in humans and a wide array of vertebrate animals. The parasite exhibits a remarkable gene expression system where genes lack individual RNA polymerase II promoters and are therefore not individually controllable by transcription factors. Instead, genes are transcribed constitutively in long polycistronic units of functionally unrelated genes and ...

Structural, functional and regulatory plasticity of giant metabolic enzymes (LIPOFLUXCONTROL) Ghent University

Kenneth Verstraete

Department of Biochemistry and microbiology

Organisms across all kingdoms of life crucially rely on the high-energy metabolite acetyl-CoA in the cellular cytosol to fuel
pivotal biochemical processes such as fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis, and protein acetylation. However, the metabolic
availability of acetyl-CoA is by no means a sinecure. Acting as a metabolic hub, ATP citrate lyase (ACL) harnesses the
hydrolysis of ATP and metabolically generated citrate and ...

Function and post-translational regulation of the PP2A methylesterase PME-1 in the cellular response to stress conditions KU Leuven

Veerle Janssens

Laboratory of Protein Phosphorylation and Proteomics

Cells have developed diverse mechanisms to protect themselves from acute damage by environmental stresses, such as nutrient or growth factor deprivation, oxidative stress and DNAdamage. In all these responses, stress-regulated protein kinases and phosphatases are commonly involved. Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is a major cellular phosphatase with pleiotropic functions, including in stress signaling. Here, we aim to investigate how cellular ...

New sensors and strategies for the visualization of nanoscale activity and 3D cell structure KU Leuven

Peter Dedecker

Biochemistry, Molecular and Structural Biology

Living systems use nanoscale organization to compartmentalize and guide the chemical processes occurring inside them. This spatiotemporal heterogeneity is thought to be a key concept for e.g. signaling specificity, yet is difficult to study as it can only be measured in the intact cell. However, at the current state of the art it is difficult to measure chemical (signaling) processes at high spatiotemporal resolution, or to measure whole-cell ...

The ontogenetic control of leaf epinasty during abiotic stress in tomato KU Leuven

Bram Van de Poel

Division of Crop Biotechnics

Plants suffer from all kinds of biotic and abiotic stress conditions, which are often regulated by the plant hormone ethylene. One of the most enigmatic abiotic stress responses is epinasty, which is the downwards bending of the leaves. Leaf epinasty is observed in many important crops including tomato, and is often the result of root hypoxia and/or salinity stress. Our preliminary results have showed that epinasty is developmentally ...

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