Developmental Genetics
Research within the Developmental Genetics group falls into three broad areas:
Plant hormone biosynthesis and action
(Prof. Jim Reid, Dr. John Ross, Dr Sandra Davidson, Dr Eloise Foo, Laura Quittenden, Diana Weston, Nathan Tivendale, Lily Sutton)
Plant hormones play an important role in the regulation of plant development. We are investigating the biological functions and interactions of a number of different plant hormones, including the gibberellins, brassinosteroids, auxin and abscisic acid. This work covers a range of species, including pea, barley, pumpkin, Arabidopsis, Eucalyptus, grape and strawberry and involves:
- defining biosynthetic pathways
- characterising mutants deficient in hormone biosynthesis or signalling
- environmental regulation of hormone biosynthesis
- cross-talk between hormone systems
- variety of plant responses
- elongation in shoot and root
- seed development
- phototropic and gravitropic responses
- apical dominance
Recent Publications on Plant Hormones
Flowering and photoperiodism
(Dr. Jim Weller , Dr Valérie Hecht, Lim Chee Liew, Frances Sussmilch, Jackie Vander Schoor, Stephen Ridge, Li Yee Khor, Elycia Tang, Albert Wong)
Flowering time is an important trait in many crop species, and we are using a genetic approach to understand more about how environmental factors such as daylength and temperature control the onset and duration of flowering. We are also investigating the relationship between flowering and other developmental processes including branching and cold tolerance. Our work focuses mainly on comparative genetics in temperate legumes (pea, Medicago, lentil), but we also work on other species including brassicas (cabbage and cauliflower) and Eucalyptus. In addition to a better understanding of basic plant biology, our work is generating information useful for breeding, and providing new insights into the domestication of legume crops.
- Isolation and mapping of flowering genes
- Expression analysis
- Isolation of new flowering time and inflorescence mutants
- Physiological analysis of mutants, cultivars and wild accessions
- flowering responses to vernalization and photoperiod
- vegetative responses to photoperiod
- grafting
- photoperiod transfer
Recent Publications on Flowering
Light perception and response
(Dr. Jim Weller , Prof Jim Reid, Dr John Ross, Dr Valerie Hecht, Li Yee Khor, Jackie Vander Schoor)
Light is one of the most important environmental factors controlling plant development. Plants have several different groups of photoreceptors that enable them to sense and respond to their light environment in different ways. We are studying the function of individual photoreceptors by
- characterizing photoreceptor gene families
- phytochrome
- cryptochrome
- phototropin
- isolating mutants for specific photoreceptors
- using mutants to analyse photoreceptor function in
- de-etiolation
- shade-avoidance
- flowering
- regulation of hormone economy
Recent Publications on Light and Photomorphogenesis
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