Tuning plant growth mechanics

The size and shape of plant organs, such as fruits and stems, are important traits that have been strongly selected during crop domestication and improvement. However, our knowledge of how genes control plant shape is very limited. Filling this gap will be important to take advantage of new technologies for crop improvement or for rapid re-domestication of new species.

This project aims to understand the mechanism of action of one of the major types of genes that have caused changes in plant organ shape during domestication and crop improvement, taking advantage of unique Arabidopsis experimental resources combined with advanced image analysis and computational modelling of tissue growth.