Daan Weits from Utrecht University is one of 408 the successful applicant for the ERC grant 2022. His research proposal “Low oxygen, key ingredient of the plant stem cell niche?” was granted with 1,5 million euros.

The project LOKI

A lack of oxygen such as during a flood is bad news for a plant. But preliminary research by Weits shows that low oxygen concentrations can also play an important role in the growth and development of plants. He found that stem cells, cells that can still form into all other types of plant cells, have a lower concentration of oxygen than for example leaf cells.

With this ERC Grant, Weits will conduct fundamental research to discover how oxygen controls plant growth. He wants to find out whether low oxygen concentrations might actually protect stem cells, thus potentially shifting the paradigm that low oxygen concentrations are by definition harmful for a plant.

Knowledge and tools resulting from this project could potentially contribute to methods that stimulate plant growth or that increase the tolerance of crops to flooding. According to Weits, this is urgently needed to secure food production for a growing world population [source].