Mari is a 24 year old PhD student at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Her project is focused on working with epigenetics and bioinformatics in Norway spruce, looking at how different temperatures during somatic embryogenesis can induce an epigenetic memory which influences climatic adaptation traits such as the timing of bud burst, and bud set in the plant. A major focus is to identify stable differences in the DNA methylation status of genes related to epigenetic mechanisms, phenology, and related pathways during the annual cycle in plants of two epitypes (cool and warm) which have had different exposure to temperatures during embryogenesis. RNA-seq data will be used together DNA methylation data to correlate the expression of the differentially methylated target genes with their corresponding gene expression at different time points throughout the growth-dormancy cycle. The results will shed light on how the stable epigenetic memory is maintained in the plant throughout the annual cycle and controls the timing of phenological events (i.e. bud burst and de-hardening).
Mari Talgø Syvertsen
