Plant Growth & Development

BIOGRAPHY

Research Description
We are interested in understanding the basis for the generation of different organismal forms. Angiosperm leaves offer an attractive opportunity to study morphological evolution as they demonstrate an enormous degree of phenotypic diversity. To study this problem we employ molecular genetic and comparative development approaches in plants with divergent leaf forms. Our aim is twofold, first to build a concrete picture of the genetic networks operating to sculpt angiosperm shoot form and second to understand how these networks are modified through evolution to result in the multitude of distinct leaf forms apparent in nature.