Development and evolution of land plant shoots

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

How do plants grow and develop their wonderful diversity of forms, from cereal crops to eucalypt forests? The project aims to understand basic mechanisms of plant development via comparative studies using the model angiosperm, Arabidopsis, and the liverwort, Marchantia, which possesses a simplified genome. Comparative studies of the genetic basis of the body plan, branching, and hormonal action could unlock their evolutionary elaboration from the simpler liverworts to more complex flowering plants. The project may generate new understanding of the principles of how genes and hormones control the architecture of plant shoot systems, and support the targeted selection of new agricultural plants.