Engineering tools for optical control of gene expression in plant systems
Hormone biosensor engineering
The Jones team's overarching goal is to advance a systems level understanding of the signal integration upstream and growth programming downstream of phytohormones. Such an understanding could guide targeted interventions into plant physiology and development for improved food security. However, the biosensor development and optimisation is an iterative process and we continue to improve upon and diversify the set of hormone biosensors that the team engineers.
Optical control of gene expression in plant systems
In addition, it is clear that high-resolution sensing is not sufficient - we now need to be able to perturb the dynamic patterns of these hormones in high-resolution in order to test the functional consequences of specific hormone accumulations and depletions. Towards this end, we are also engineering tools for optical control of gene expression in plant systems.