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“Pollen-pistil interactions in flowering plants: A role for endocytosis?” (2017-2019)

During pollination, the pollen grain lands on the stigma of the flower and produces a long pollen tube which makes it’s way down to the egg before releasing a sperm cell and fertilising the egg. The female part of the plant, called the pistil releases chemicals which guide the pollen tube towards it with the pollen tube growing solely from it tip. It is unknown what these signals are, and how the pollen tube recognises and reacts to them. This project aimed to determine whether these signals were taken up by endosomes. Endosomes (green dots in picture to the right) are very small packaging organelles which pick up and transport proteins around the cell.

**“Enhancing the production of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in Marchantia polymorpha” (2017)**

Whilst carrying out the project below, we determined that when using a high concentration of Cytokinin (the hormone that promotes shoot growth), Marchantia polymorpha produces more chloroplasts within its cells. M. polymorpha also produces omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in cells called oil bodies. Chloroplasts also contain high levels of fatty acids and therefore lipids (fats). Therefore, we aimed to determine whether by treating with cytokinin, you could increase the amount of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids produced. These are essential in our diets and will soon be in short supply due to over-fishing, and therefore we aimed to determine whether there was potential to create a sustainable source of plant-derived omega-3 and omega-6.

**“Determining the optimal conditions for tissue regeneration in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha” (2016)**

Marchantia polymorpha (liverwort) was one of the first plants to live on land. It is therefore an evolutionary sister to all land plants living today. Due to it’s ability to reproduce asexually by creating clones of itself (see picture to the right), the use of it in the lab as a model plant has increased rapidly. However, it was unknown how similar it is to the current model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. A. thaliana only reproduces sexually and the results of genetic mutations can take a long time to conclude. Therefore, this project aimed to determine under a range of growth conditions using plant growth hormones Auxin and Cytokinin, whether M. polymorpha grows and develops similarly to A. thaliana. If so, the results of genetic mutations such as knockouts in the lab, would be quicker to ascertain and save a huge amount of time.

**“Assessing the viability of using Diadema sea urchins as an indicator species for reef health in the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park in Sabah, Borneo” (2015)**

In the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park in Sabah, Borneo there has been a large amount of coral bleaching due to many factors including pollution, ghost nets, over-fishing and more dramatic changes in the weather. Diadema sea urchins feed on algae and are found in large congregations on bleached corals, where algae thrives. Therefore, using percentage cover of bleached and unbleached coral, and the population density of Diadema setosum sea urchins, I aimed to work out whether there was a strong correlation between the number of urchins present and the health of the reef. This may then be used as an easy tool for scientists to monitor rates of decline/recovery in relation to the number of urchins seen on any one part of a reef.

Pollen tubes from a tobacco plant. The small dots are endosomes which have been tagged with a fluorescent label allowing us to see them under fluorescent microscope.

These are confocal microscopy images of Marchantia polymorpha before (A) and after (B) treatment with cytokinin. You can see in B that there are many more dots i.e. chloroplasts within each cell.

Marchantia polymorpha can reproduce asexually by producing clones of itself. This image shows multiple clones emerging from a structure called a gemma cup on the surface of the plant.

Diadema sea urchins on a bleached coral bed in the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park in Sabah, Borneo.