Filippo Maria Mirasole Department of Plant and Microbial Biology University of Zürich Zollikerstrasse 107 CH-8008 Zürich filippo.mirasole@botinst.uzh.ch phone: +41 (0)44 63 48398 fax: +41 (0)44 63 48204 Research Interests Keywords Education Previous Positions and Research Experience
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Research Interests

Light is source of energy and information for plants. Through photosynthesis, plants convert the electromagnetic energy of the visible spectrum into chemical energy (sugars), which is used for their growth. In parallel, plants perceive the properties of light such as its intensity, wavelength, orientation and period to control vegetative growth and shape but also the flowering transition. These properties are perceived by specialized proteins (photoreceptors), which once activated trigger a cascade of downstream signaling that orchestrate the regulation of target genes and the re-organization of nuclear architecture. Noteworthy is the dark-to-light transition of seedling after germination (de-etiolation). Indeed, at the time of germination, the dark-adapted seedling is etiolated. If the seedling is kept in the dark, it develops according to pattern called skotomorphogenesis (close pale cotyledons, apical hook, elongated hypocotyl, short roots), whereas if it is exposed to light it undergoes to photomorphogenesis (green cotyledons, shorth hypocotyl, promotion of leaves and roots growth). In my project I will study the effect of light on the three-dimensional architecture of nuclei during the dark-to-light transition, focusing on which part of the light spectrum is responsible for spatial rearrangements of transcription. I will use a combination of genomic and cytogenetic approaches that includes routine molecular analyses, high-end microscopy imaging and image analysis.

Keywords

Arabidopsis, 3D nuclear organization, chromatin, epigenetics, light, de-etiolation

Education

Previous Positions and Research Experience