Gibberellin regulated pumpkin development

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Theodor Lange
• Subject Area: Plant Physiology
• Term: from 2007 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 53796894

Gibberellins are phytohormones that are essential for the control of plant development. Pumpkin offers a well-established model system for research on gibberellin biosynthesis. In particular, developing pumpkin seeds have been utilized intensively to unravel gibberellin biosynthetic pathways, the involved enzymes, and the coding genes. We propose to study the impact of gibberellins in the control of important developmental steps in pumpkin, including seed, seedling, tendril and flower development. For this purpose key components of the gibberellin biosynthetic and signaling pathway will be profiled during pumpkin development, including endogenous gibberellins, receptors molecules, gibberellin biosynthetic enzymes and their encoding transcripts. Moreover, to proof function and regulatory mechanisms, gene overexpression and silencing experiments will be conducted in Arabidopsis and pumpkin, respectively.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Dr. Maria Joao Pimenta Lange