Center for Active Transport of Plant Hormones Plant-Path

Plants adapt to their environment by altering their physical form, a process controlled by plant hormones. The distribution of these phytohormones dictates most aspects of plant growth and development. This includes root growth for improved water uptake and phototropism, the ability of plants to grow towards light to optimize photosynthesis, as well as the development and specialization of plant organs like roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds.

The primary objective of the Plant-PATH Center is to elucidate the complexities of hormone transport and regulation in plants, enhancing our knowledge of how plants adapt to environmental cues through changes in growth and development. By investigating the molecular principles of phytohormone distribution, our research aims to understand, predict, and control phytohormone distribution, with the ultimate aim of discovering tools to rewire hormone transport in plants and create new functionalities. This work seeks to revolutionize our understanding of plant responses to climatic change and lay the foundation for developing plants with dynamic hormonal responses, more robust and responsive to their changing environment. Our ultimate goals are to foster sustainable and climate resilient agriculture and to provide tools and models to explain and understand how a changing climate will affect plants at the molecular level.

For this purpose, we have assembled a team of internationally recognized researchers from diverse disciplines, ranging from atomic structural biology to plant physiology, to elucidate plant hormone distribution in its entire molecular complexity. The Plant-PATH Center is based at Aarhus University, with satellite locations in Germany and Belgium.