Analysis of the mechanism regulating anther opening: a tool to control fertility for breeding hybrid crops with increased yield

The rotation project will investigate changes in the anther that result in anther opening. Principally we are interested in how the anther water status changes over time to facilitate anther opening. This will involve analysis of the genes linked to targeted water changes within the anther to determine how they are altering hydration status at the final stage of dehiscence. Aquaporins are known to be important in different tissues to determine hydration changes, since they act as selective water channels. They belong to a large gene family that show tissue specific expression. This project will involve using bioinformatics, reporter constructs and expression analysis to determine which aquaporins are involved in the anther tissues and where and when they are expressed.