Marije Vos, council member

About my research

Microspore embryogenesis was first discovered by accident in the late 1960s and has since been studied as a powerful system to investigate plant cell fate and totipotency acquisition. In Brassica napus, immature pollen (microspores) can be reprogrammed by a short heat treatment to switch from gametophytic development to embryogenesis, thereby bypassing fertilization entirely. Interestingly, the route to embryo formation is not linear. Within five days of culture, we can distinguish four distinct types of multicellular structures expressing LEC1-GFP, an embryo identity marker gene. Most induced microspores give rise to callus-like unorganized clumps that die within ten days, while only a small fraction develops into viable embryos with a predictable morphology. My research focuses on comparing the transcriptome profiles and chromatin dynamics of these different structures and their individual cells. Through this, we aim to identify the key (epi)genetic factors underlying the distinct cell fate pathways during microspore embryogenesis.