MORPH
An NSF Research Coordination Network
Research Interests
We are using a multidisciplinary approach toward understanding the control of ovule development and the process of ovule evolution in higher plants. We are using Arabidopsis thaliana as as a model system to genetic, molecular, and structural analysis of this process. Through characterization of the mutant phenotypes, epistatic relationship and biochemical products of genes regulating ovule development we are constructing models of the genetic and molecular interactions governing ovule development. The cloned genes also allow for identification of related genes in other species to test potential roles of changes in the nature or regulation of these genes in diversification of ovule morphology.
