Empowering Curious Researchers

Research Areas
Arabidopsis thaliana field experiment
Plant Biology
E. Kerdaffrec (GMI)
Plants are central to life. They
have evolved many unique
properties, such as the ability
to capture solar energy, a mode
of multicellularity that allows them to
grow and propagate without motility
even in harsh environments, complex
RNA silencing pathways, and a high
degree of developmental plasticity.
Labs at the VBC study plants because
of these unique properties and because
they are ideal models for a broad
variety of fundamental biological
questions. Students are at the forefront
of international plant research,
studying key biological questions at
every level, molecular and organismal
levels to population genetics and
evolution.
Selected publications from our students
Marisa Rosa et al.
The Arabidopsis SWR1 chromatinremodeling
complex is important for DNA
repair, somatic recombination and meiosis.
2013, Plant Cell (Mittelsten Scheid Group,
GMI)
Vladimir V. Cavrak et al.
How a retrotransposon exploits the plant’s
heat stress response for its activation. 2014
PLoS Genet (Mittelsten Scheid Group, GMI)
Jiradet Gloggnitzer et al.
Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay modulates
immune receptor levels to regulate plant
antibacterial defense. 2014, Cell Host
Microbe (Riha Group, GMI)
JIRADET GLOGGNITZER
When beginning his PhD in the Riha
Lab at the GMI, Jiradet wanted to
characterise the dramatic phenotypes
of Arabidopsis plants with defects in
a RNA quality control pathway, known
as nonsense-mediated mRNA decay
(NMD). By carefully following up an
unexpected result, he discovered that
plants exploit the NMD molecular
machinery to fine-tune their immune
system. When faced with a pathogen
threat, plants transiently shut down
their quality control in order to produce
more immune receptors, which boosts
disease resistance and ensures the
survival of the plant.
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