Current Projects
Plant phenotype represents an integration of genetic, environmental, epigenetic and bioenergetic factors that influence a plant’s ability to interact with and adapt to its changing environment. Our laboratory has identified a class of plastid that participates in environmental sensing, and conditions a global plant stress state when properly perturbed. We exploit this system to learn about plant cellular signaling of chronic stress, and to learn how plants condition transgenerational memory of stress. We want to understand how epigenetic memory, and its inheritance transgenerationally, might be important to plant adaptation.
Projects currently ongoing in the lab include:
1. Investigating plant epigenetic memory for environmental stress response.
Our group is interested in understanding the gene pathway changes that accompany stress memory in the msh1 system.
2. Incorporation of epigenetics to crop breeding.
We conduct research in sorghum, soybean, tomato and canola to assess the potential of epigenetic variation for enhancing crop field performance and resilience.
3. Discovering features of the sensory plastid.
Our group investigates the specialized plastid in plants that triggers epigenetic reprogramming by MSH1 disruption.
