ResearchI consider myself an evolutionary biologist, although I could also be described as a plant biologist, a developmental biologist, a molecular biologist and probably a few more ... biologist.
Research InterestsDarwin (and Wallace) realized before everyone else that the remarkable diversity of life on Earth has been obtained by natural selection acting over many, many millions of years. Since then one of the main biological research topics has been exactly how the evolutionary processes works. I am interested in understanding how large scale changes, like for example origin or loss of organs, are related to and dependent on changes on the molecular scale. Morphological changes, regardless of whether they involve the gain or loss of something, require changes in the molecular machinery that control the development of the organism. Plants continue to develop new organs throughout their lives. The post-embryonic organogenesis in plants originate from meristems. I'm especially interested in understanding how the molecular control of development has evolved through plant evolution in non-flowering plants, in other words gymnosperms (like conifers), seedless vascular plants (like ferns, horsetails and clubmosses) and bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts). Research for My PhD ThesisMADS-domain transcription factors and the evolution of reproductive organ development in conifers Together with Peter Engström (main advisor), Karolina Tandre (co-advisor), Francisco Vergara-Silva and Marie Englund as well as many others that are involved in various aspects of the project. It has been known for quite a long time from work done on model organisms that MADS-domain transcription factors have important roles in both the transition to flowering and the floral organ development. Most of the knowledge of this gene family in plants comes from work done using core eudicots like Arabidopsis thaliana and Antirrhinum majus, but much less is known about their function in other plants. I'm studying the evolution of MADS-domain transcription factors and their function in reproductive development in the conifers Picea abies (Pinaceae), Juniperus communis (Cupressaceae), Thujopsis dolobrata (Cupressaceae) and Cryptomeria japonica (Taxodiaceae). The aim is to understand the evolution of conifer cones and ultimately also the origin of the flower.
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Picea abies (upper left), Thujopsis dolobrata (upper right), Juniperus communis (lower left), Cryptomeria japonica (lower right). Photos: Erika Groth |