Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Plants, as sessile organisms, cannot escape unfavourable conditions, making them susceptible to various biotic and abiotic stressors. In order to cope, they exhibit remarkable adaptability by modifying their developmental programs to the changing environment. The root system, essential for anchoring, nutrient uptake, and interactions in the rhizosphere, displays significant plasticity in
response to environmental stress. This adaptability involves a trade-off between stress resistance and growth, which is extensively studied in the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. Grafting, a technique used since ancient times, joins parts of different plants to combine desirable traits and enhance stress resistance. However, the grafting process induces abiotic stress, affecting root
growth, especially in the primary root.
This thesis work investigated the primary root growth arrest during Arabidopsis micro-grafting, revealing that ethylene signalling plays a significant role in the process. Sucrose treatment can rescue primary root tip arrest, which shows a strong correlation to ethylene activity. Ethylene response decrease in the primary root, however ethylene signaling increases in the QC area of the root tip. Additionally, grafting influences symplastic transport by causing accumulation of PDLP1 protein in the arrested root tip. In conclusion we found that ethylene signaling is essential for the primary root arrest observed during grafting. However further studies are needed to uncover the precise involvement of ethylene signaling in root tip arrest during graft-induced stress.