2010Dr Jill Harrison, Royal Society University Research Fellow
Evolution of plant body plans
Our group is interested in how major innovations in plant body plan arose during evolution, with a focus on the earliest events in leaf evolution. The main biological questions that we would like to answer are:
How conserved are patterns of leaf development across the land plants?
What sort of developmental changes allowed plants to take the earliest steps in leaf evolution?
The three areas of research that we are undertaking to address these questions are:
1. Conservation of stem cell function in plants
Current understanding of stem cell function in plants comes from studies multicellular angiosperm shoot meristems. Unlike angiosperms, extant relatives of the earliest land plants have just one or two clearly identifiable stem cells in their meristems. Recent work (Harrison et al. 2009) suggests that fate may be specified in daughters of these cells in a manner analogous to the animal stem cell niche. The aim of this research is to determine the basis of stem versus non-stem cell fate in two early land plant lineages, and the degree of conservation in stem cell function between plants.
2. Conservation in patterns of growth across land plants
Recent advances in microscopy and image analysis mean that is now possible to obtain and analyse quantitative data about the dynamics of plant growth. This is yielding exciting new understanding of how plant shape is attained in flowering plants (see Prusinkiewicz lab.; Meyerowitz lab.; Coen lab.). We are generating tools that will allow us to compare development in moss to flowering plant development to test how conserved patterns of leaf development are across land plants.
3. The role of cell shape and polarity in development
Plant cells are bounded by a rigid cell wall, and the plane and pattern of cell divisions thus plays an important role in development. We are testing how these are regulated in moss by perturbing cell shape, polarity, and division patterns.
Our lab is recently established, and we would be particularly interested to hear from people who are interested in transcriptomics, image analysis and computer modelling to build the group.
- Quick Links:
- PhD Projects available
- Prusinkiewicz lab.
- Meyerowitz lab.
- Coen lab.
- Contact me:
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Department of Plant Sciences
University of Cambridge
Downing Site Downing Street
CAMBRIDGE CB2 3EA
Email: cjh97@cam.ac.uk
Office +44 (0)1223 330212
Lab +44 (0)1223 330232