Investigating the cuticle of moss Physcomitrella patens using knock-out genetics and chemical composition analysis in order to understand the evolution of plant cuticle biosynthesis pathway

This summer, I had an amazing experience in the Rose Lab working with the moss speciesPhyscomitrella patens‘ cuticle biosynthetic pathways and its role in evolution. We were trying to figure out which genes are involved in the composition of P. patens cuticle, which is the only moss with its whole genome sequenced. Before I entered the program, my mentor had already chosen 4 genes in P. patens that were very similar to some genes in Arabidopsis thaliana that coded for cuticle biosynthesis. So, we worked on transforming P. patens with those 4 genes and observing its behavior after this procedure. It was a lot of fun! I learned a lot of things that will help me during my career like working with people from different backgrounds, ages and culture, giving a talk in front of a scientific community in a non-native language (in my case, english), learning how to make the most out of a confocal microscope, among other amazing things that helped me grow as an individual and a professional.