Seminars

All above-ground plant architecture is controlled by a small pool of tightly-regulated stem cells. The genetic network behind this regulation has been extensively studied over the past 25 years. However, because cells do not exist in isolation, it is also important to understand their mechanical identities. Our recent work has uncovered that plant aerial stem cells have specific biophysical properties. These insights have led us to re-examine the prevailing dogma and show that suppositions made from purely genetic studies do not provide a full picture of stem cell regulation.
Separately, we have also used an interdisciplinary approach combining modeling and molecular genetics to re-examine aspects of the ABC model, which has been the accepted model for flower development for over three decades. Specifically, we have studied the expression pattern of AGAMOUS, a key gene for plant reproduction in angiosperms. We show that the spatio-temporal pattern of AG expression is not as abrupt as previously supposed, but is a stochastic process that nonetheless results in a very robust final pattern.