Research Overview

Research interests in the lab are grounded in comparative evolutionary biology and focus on the plant family Brassicaceae. We use the robust evolutionary phylogenetic framework for Brassicaceae along with genomic data for several emerging model species in the family as key components to propel the development of the group as a model system for plant evolutionary biology. The lab curates a collection of DNAs from over 150 Brassicaceae species that span the entire breadth of diversity in the family. Current projects capitalize on this DNA collection and the evolutionary framework developed over the past decade, and use them as a platform to study how evolution shapes fundamental biochemical, cellular, and morphological developmental pathways in plants. More specifically, we are addressing the fate of duplicated genes in these scientifically, economically, and ecologically important genomes. Gene and genome duplication are a hallmark of plant evolution; a greater understanding of duplications requires robust phylogenetic hypotheses and careful case studies. We are investigating duplicated proteins that are important for the maintenance of telomere length in Arabidopsis thaliana and duplicate gene pairs responsible for fatty-acid biosynthesis in the emerging biofuel crop Camelina sativa.