Cuticular transport in grey poplar (Populus × canescens) leaves: deciphering the correlation between wax composition and barrier properties

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Lukas Schreiber
• Subject Area: Plant Physiology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 552382241

This project intends to identify wax biosynthesis genes in grey poplar, by generating corresponding transgenic lines, characterizing the chemical phenotypes (wax composition), and finally quantifying cuticular barrier properties for water and organic molecules. To achieve this, the following experiments will be conducted: (i) generation of transgenic lines by knocking out different key genes of cuticular wax biosynthesis (ii) optimization of cultivation conditions and adequate abiotic stress protocols for stress-physiological experiments (iii) morphological characterization of leaves to identify potential mutation-induced phenotypic alterations (iv) chemical analysis of cuticular wax to identify qualitative (and potentially quantitative) differences between the wildtype and mutants (v) characterization of cuticular barrier properties (changes in water and solute permeances) of mutants compared to the wildtype and their responses to abiotic stress (water deficiency and salt stress) This integrated approach suggested here, combining molecular-biological, morphological, chemical-analytical, and transport-physiological experiments will give a detailed and precise insight into the relationships between cuticular wax composition and cuticular transport properties in leaves of poplar.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants