Laboratory of Plant Physiology

The Laboratory of Plant Physiology of Wageningen University aims to contribute to the understanding of how plants function. We are particularly interested in how plants respond to changes in their sometimes hostile environment and how they in turn effect this environment to their benefit.

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Sink filling, inulin metabolizing enzymes and carbohydrate status in field grown chicory

Inulin is a fructose-based polymer that is isolated from chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) taproots. The degree of polymerization (DP) determines its application and hence the value of the crop.

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Courses

The Laboratory of Plant Physiology teaches plant physiology to 1st and 2nd year BSc Biology, Plant Sciences and Forest & Nature Conservation students. In addition, we contribute to a whole series of more specialized courses for 3rd year BSc, MSc and PhD students from several Study Programmes.

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Research

Important aspects in our research are the processes occurring in plants in response to a (changing) environment and the response of the plant to this environment. We study, for example, the effect of environmental factors on partitioning of metabolites between different organs (source-sink relationships) and the production of secondary metabolites involved in plant-insect interactions. Other examples are the regulation of quality control in protein processing during seed filling and the resource availability during germination and growth of the seedling. Genetics, natural variation, the analysis of plant hormones and other signaling molecules, and -omics technologies such as transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics are essential expertises used in our research.

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