Ketelaar group - Cellular polarity and dynamics
Many answers to questions about plant development and functioning can be found within cells. Relevant cellular processes include the regulation of division plane, the direction of cell growth and polarization in response to internal and external signals. We aim to understand the cellular machinery that drives and executes these processes. To do so, a multidisciplinary approach is used in which physical, chemical and genetic factors are considered. To reduce complexity, we use several model species with simple body plans, the moss Physcomitrium patens and since recently the alga Ulva mutabilis.
The protonemal tissue of Physcomitrium patens has a 2 dimensional architecture and the behaviour of protonemal cells is highly predictable. In addition, the single layered protonemal tissue is ideal for high resolution, quantitative microscopy. Protonemal cells expand by tip growth, a highly polarized type of cell expansion. Since these cells function in exploring the environment, their growth direction is determined by a trade-off between internal polarity cues, provided by the microtubule cytoskeleton, and diverse external signals, including gravity and light. Understanding how polarity cues are transduced to the cell tip and how they are balanced against environmental signals to control the growth direction is one of the focus areas of the group.
In a collaborative project with Francine Govers (PHP) and Joris Sprakel (PCC), we aim to understand how oomycete pathogens, particularly the notorious Phytophthora group, locate plants and get access to plant cells. In this project, we focus on both the weaponry of the pathogen and the defence machinery of plants. We study polarization and sensing mechanisms of the pathogen and polarized secretion as a cellular defence mechanism in plant cells, with the goal to find novel strategies to control Phytophthora pathogens.
Group members
Publications
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Fatal attraction : How Phytophthora zoospores find their host
Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology (2023), Volume: 148-149 - ISSN 1084-9521 - p. 13-21. -
Data from the paper An actin mechanostat ensures hyphal tip sharpness in Phytophthora infestans to facilitate host entry.
: Wageningen University & Research -
An actin mechanostat ensures hyphal tip sharpness in Phytophthora infestans to achieve host penetration
Science Advances 8 (2022)23. - ISSN 2375-2548 - p. eabo0875 - eabo0875. -
Molecular sensors reveal the mechano-chemical response of Phytophthora infestans walls and membranes to mechanical and chemical stress
The Cell Surface 8 (2022). - ISSN 2468-2330 -
A slicing mechanism facilitates host entry by plant-pathogenic Phytophthora
Nature Microbiology 6 (2021)8. - ISSN 2058-5276 - p. 1000 - 1006. -
Phytophthora infestans RXLR effector AVR1 disturbs the growth of Physcomitrium patens without affecting Sec5 localization
PLoS ONE 16 (2021)4. - ISSN 1932-6203 -
Long-term single-cell imaging and simulations of microtubules reveal principles behind wall patterning during proto-xylem development
Nature Communications 12 (2021)1. - ISSN 2041-1723 - 12 p. -
Time-gated confocal microscopy reveals accumulation of exocyst subunits at the plant-pathogen interface
Journal of Experimental Botany 71 (2020)3. - ISSN 0022-0957 - p. 837 - 849. -
The Flower Petal Training System in Microsurgery: Validation of a Training Model Using a Randomized Controlled Trial
Annals of Plastic Surgery 83 (2019)6. - ISSN 0148-7043 - p. 697 - 701. -
Optical trapping in plant cells
In: Methods in Molecular Biology / , Cvrcková, F., Zárský, V.. - Hertfordshire : Springer (Methods in Molecular Biology ) - ISBN 9781493994687 - p. 231 - 238.