Institute of Plant Sciences of Paris-Saclay

Researches at ISV overall aim at understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in plant development and growth, and the modulation of these processes by endogenous (e.g. hormones) or exogenous factors of both biotic (bacteria, viruses) and abiotic (osmotic and water-related stresses) origins.
Molecular, biochemical, biophysical, cellular and genetic approaches are developed to study these mechanisms and integrate them within a continuum of scales that range from sub-cellular compartments to the cell, and from the organs to the whole plant interacting with its environment. Around this central theme, three main axes cover cell compartmentation, development and hormone signaling, and plant-microbe interactions.
Most investigations involve the model systems Arabidopsis thaliana and Medicago truncatula.

· Objectives : To decipher the mechanisms controlling plant development and adaptation to environmental constraints.

· Methods :

♦ Greenhouses and growth chambers for plant culture (including S2 and S3 confinement for genetically modified plants)
♦ Imaging and cell biology platform (IFR 87 and Imagif-FRC3115) (epifluorescence and confocal microscopy, transmission electronic microscopy, flow cytometry, optical microsurgery and micromanipulation)
♦ Protein biochemistry (HPLC, FPLC, 2D electrophoresis)
♦ Electrophysiology (patch-clamp, voltage-clamp)
♦ Two ISV research teams serve as support teams for platforms of the Imagif facility (http://www.imagif.cnrs.fr/):  the team of B. Satiat-Jeunemaitre for the platforms of Microscopy (photonic and electronic) and Cytometry, and the team of C. Giglione for the Service of Identification and Characterization of Proteins by Mass Spectrometry.