Development and evolution of land plant shoots

从谷类作物到桉树森林，植物是如何生长和发展其奇妙的多样性的？该项目旨在通过使用模式被子植物拟南芥和拥有简化基因组的地钱植物Marchantia的比较研究来了解植物发育的基本机制。对人体计划、分枝和荷尔蒙作用的遗传基础的比较研究可能会解开它们从简单的苔类到更复杂的开花植物的进化精致。该项目可能会对基因和激素如何控制植物地上部系统的结构的原理产生新的理解，并支持有针对性地选择新的农业植物。

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.