Projects
Unraveling unknown environmental impacts of a new booming industry: nano-silver's effects on plants and their associated microbial plant growth promoting community Hasselt University
Identifying molecular mechanisms of plant root architectural responses to excess metals, in support of plant growth improvement for safe biomass production or phytoremediation strategies. Hasselt University
The role of plant hormones in plant growth and development Hasselt University
Macrophyte growth in a future world: the effect of Global Change on plant resilience to hydrodynamic forces, on litter quality and on decomposition. University of Antwerp
Unraveling the molecular mechanisms behind plant growth promotion by Serendipita volatiles Ghent University
Serendipita is a genus of plant growth-promoting endophytic fungi. In contrast to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Serendipita enhances plant growth mainly by modulating host resource allocation and metabolism rather than through nutrient acquisition. How this occurs is poorly understood, in part due to the difficulty of picking up growth-promoting ‘signals’ amidst the ‘noise’ of the colonization process: colonization induces plant immune ...
Exploring the physiological functions of the endogenous plant growth regulator cis-cinnamic acid Ghent University
Plant growth and development can be coordinated by numerous molecules produced by plants. An example of such a molecule is cis-cinnamic acid (c-CA). Currently, c-CA is known to inhibit the transport of auxin, a major plant hormone. This inhibition in transport causes the levels of auxin to increase in the tip of the root, resulting in more lateral roots and a bigger overall root architecture in the c-CA treated plants. Due to the larger root ...
ENDOPOL: endocytosis-regulated cell wall integrity sensing during polarized plant cell growth. University of Antwerp
A novel non cell-autonomous plant growth stimulatory molecule: its nature, regulation and applications Ghent University
Global warming and population growth severely impact agricultural production. Agricultural adaptation should occur sustainably without affecting ecosystems and one way to address this is by understanding the processes that determine plant productivity. Recently, we showed that ectopic expression of maize cytochrome P450 PLASTOCRHON1 (PLA1) enhances biomass and grain yield by more than 10%. PLA1 produces a, yet unknown, molecule that ...
Goodbye blackbox: elucidating the working mechanisms of biochar and chitin on plant growth and disease resistance Ghent University
In this project, the mode of action of two environment-friendly substrate amendments (chitin and
biochar) will be studied on the strawberry-substrate model system. Chitin and biochar are known to
increase crop growth and disease resistance when they are incorporated in soilless growth media,
and are therefore interesting amendments to reduce fertilizer and pesticide application in
horticulture. The mechanisms of ...