School of Plant Sciences
The University of Arizona
The University of Arizona
Research Overview
Research interests in the lab are grounded in comparative evolutionary biology and focus on the plant family Brassicaceae and other model species in angiosperms. We capitalize on the robust phylogenetic framework that has been developed by years of inquiry into plant diversity and evolution. We overlay gene trees onto these organismal trees to better understand how evolutionary events such as gene duplication and loss impact the underlying traits that interest us. For example, our current work explores the evolution of two different families of receptor kinases. One family, the CrRLK1Ls, is involved in sensing changes at the cell wall. A second family, the CEPR genes and related lineages within the clade XI leucine-rich repeat receptors evolved to bind small peptides that are transited through plant vasculature and impact various developmental processes. You can read more about both projects on our Research page.
Research interests in the lab are grounded in comparative evolutionary biology and focus on the plant family Brassicaceae and other model species in angiosperms. We capitalize on the robust phylogenetic framework that has been developed by years of inquiry into plant diversity and evolution. We overlay gene trees onto these organismal trees to better understand how evolutionary events such as gene duplication and loss impact the underlying traits that interest us. For example, our current work explores the evolution of two different families of receptor kinases. One family, the CrRLK1Ls, is involved in sensing changes at the cell wall. A second family, the CEPR genes and related lineages within the clade XI leucine-rich repeat receptors evolved to bind small peptides that are transited through plant vasculature and impact various developmental processes. You can read more about both projects on our Research page.
