Tuning plant growth mechanics

植物器官的大小和形状，如果实和茎，是在作物驯化和改良过程中被强烈选择的重要性状。然而，我们对基因如何控制植物形状的了解非常有限。利用新技术改良作物或快速重新驯化新物种来填补这一空白将是很重要的。本项目旨在利用拟南芥独特的实验资源，结合先进的组织生长图像分析和计算模型，了解在驯化和作物改良过程中引起植物器官形状变化的主要基因类型之一的作用机制。

The size and shape of plant organs, such as fruits and stems, are important traits that have been strongly selected during crop domestication and improvement. However, our knowledge of how genes control plant shape is very limited. Filling this gap will be important to take advantage of new technologies for crop improvement or for rapid re-domestication of new species.This project aims to understand the mechanism of action of one of the major types of genes that have caused changes in plant organ shape during domestication and crop improvement, taking advantage of unique Arabidopsis experimental resources combined with advanced image analysis and computational modelling of tissue growth.