Graduate Student Emory University Atlanta, Georgia
Body of Abstract: Pluripotency, or the ability of a cell to further differentiate into one of several specific cell types, is imparted by a cell’s chromatin landscape. Generally, it is thought that stem cells contain highly accessible and dynamic chromatin, thereby allowing for quick activation of a particular subset of genes to begin the differentiation process. However, the role of various chromatin remodeling complexes, the specific patterning of histone variants, and presence of post-translational modifications – and how they function to both create and maintain the stem cell chromatin landscape - is yet to be elucidated. Plants are an ideal model organism for this research, as they have accessible stem cell pools known as meristems, and continue to make organs post-embryonically. In my research, I plan to explore the role of both the histone variant H2A.Z, as well as several chromatin remodeler complex components in the maintenance and establishment of the meristem in Arabidopsis thaliana. So far, I have been developing tools for answering these questions in real time. Rather than using complete knockout lines from which it is difficult to parse out primary and secondary effects, I am leveraging inducible knockout systems to study the direct consequences of losing key chromatin regulators. Here, I present the progress I have made on developing a GFP nanobody degron to inducibly delete GFP-tagged H2A.Z to ask how the meristem is affected in its absence, as well as the troubleshooting of assays I will use to assess these effects, such as single-nucleus RNA-sequencing.