4 Postdoctoral Positions, Umea University, Sweden (2019)

Four postdoctoral fellowships are open in the field of experimental plant biology at the Umeå Plant Science Centre. The fellowships are part of a larger research programme funded by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundations focusing on forest tree biology and biotechnology.

Project 1: Adventitious root development in trees: exploring the genetic variation in the Swedish Aspen collection

Project leader: Catherine Bellini

Rooting of stem cuttings is economically important for forest trees as it is a cost-effective way to multiply plants from elite clones. The project consists in the characterization of the rooting performance of aspen clones from the Swedish Aspen collection which comprises 116 aspen individuals collected from 12 sites spanning the range of Sweden, at the phenotypic (rooting assays, characterization of the root system), molecular level (GWA; RNAseq, gene expression) and physiologic (effect of light, hormone measurements).

Project 2: Seasonal Changes of Translation in Poplar

Project leader: Johannes Hansson

Flowering is regulated by a delicate regulatory scheme were various environmental factors are important and FT genes plays a key role. In Populus trees, PttFT1 is expressed only during the winter and is required for flowering. Interestingly, it is not known if the transcript is translated during the winter or if translated at later stages. We will investigate seasonal translation changes globally using RiboSeq and determine the role of translational regulation for Populus tree flowering.

Project 3: New Molecular Players of Photosynthesis and Photoprotection in Arabidopsis and Spruce

Project leader: Alizée Malnoë

The objective of this fellowship is to identify novel molecular players of sustained energy dissipation through new suppressor screens in Arabidopsis and characterize the involvement of these players in photoprotection of Spruce. This project will use a tree phenotyping platform to test impact of light usage manipulation on tree growth as well as tree genomics resources to study conservation and expression of genes identified in Arabidopsis.

Project 4: Mechanical stimulation of plant secondary growth

Project leaders: Hannele Tuominen (UPSC) and Javier Agusti (Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, Spain)
Plant secondary growth is stimulated in response to mechanical stimulation. The aim of this project is to elucidate mechanisms that are involved in sensing of the mechanical stimulus as well as downstream signaling leading to stimulation of the cambial activity. Gene knock-out technologies will be utilized in both Arabidopsis and Populus for functional and molecular studies. A tree phenotyping platform is used for detailed characterization of tree growth in response to mechanical stimulation.

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4 Postdoctoral Positions, Umea University, Sweden (2019)