Ing. J.J.B. Keurentjes: Genetic control of gene expression and metabolites in Arabidopsis

Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. M. Koornneef (Genetics)
Promotor: Prof.dr. L.H.W. van der Plas (Plant Physiology)
Co-Promotor: Dr. D. Vreugdenhil


For many traits of plants and animals hereditary variation exists in nature. The genetic regulation of such traits is often complex due to their polygenic nature. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana can be effectively used to dissect these complex traits by using the natural variation present within this species. Besides variation in physiological properties, variation can also be observed in the expression level of genes and in metabolite accumulation. These entities can nowadays efficiently be analyzed using so-called 'omics' technologies (i.e. the comprehensive analysis of all or many components of a class of biological molecules). Uncovering the regulatory steps controlling gene expression enables the identification of gene-to-gene regulation and ultimately the construction of genetic regulatory networks. We performed a genome-wide gene expression analysis (transcriptomics) and detected genetic regulation for >4000 genes. Moreover, we were able to identify a number of regulator-target gene combinations enabling the construction of a regulatory network. Similarly we analysed the accumulation of hundreds of metabolites (metabolomics) and found genetic factors to be responsible for the observed variation for most of these compounds.

Title thesis: Genetical Genomics in Arabidopsis: from natural variation to regulatory networks