“Effects on Withanolides on Insect Herbivory” Project Summary: Withanolides are secondary metabolites produced by plants of the Physalis genus, which includes the crops tomatillo, goldenberry, and groundcherry. Existing research indicates withanolides have...
“Pipeline development for identification of high-impact structural variants” Project Summary: Structural variants (SV) are recognized as a prominent source of genetic variation, with single variants manifesting significant influence over phenotypic...
“Regulation of Apple Acidity: Is it Protein Turnover of ALMT Transporter?” Project Summary: The aluminum-activated malate transporter (ALMT) family of ion channels plays an essential role in plant mineral nutrition processes, fruit quality, and responses...
“Investigation of a hornwort insertion line with rhizoids specific GFP expression” Project Summary: Hornworts share an ancestor with vascular plants around 500 million years ago and serves as the keystone for understanding the evolution of all vascular...
“A prickly question: What are the genetic loci involved in the evolution of eggplant prickles?” Project Summary: Eggplant is a culturally and economically important crop from the vast Solanaceae plant family. Eggplant is consumed all over the world and is...
“Identifying the Genetic Loci Contributing to Folate Accumulation in Tomato” Project Summary: Folates are one of the most important vitamins found in food. They serve as co-factors in the synthesis of DNA, methionine, and amino acids. While plants and...
“Overexpression of candidate insect herbivory resistance genes in Setaria viridis and the effects on Spodoptera frugiperda herbivory” Project Summary: This project investigates how insect herbivory of Setaria viridis (hereafter Setaria) is affected by...
“Characterizing a locus that confers resistance to Beech Bark Disease” Project Summary: American beech (Fagus grandifolia) is an ecologically and economically important native species. This species has high-quality wood used for furniture, flooring, and...
“Antibacterial Activity of Kombucha Against Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus: The Search for Organic Solutions to Address Citrus Greening” Project Summary: Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) is a bacterial pathogen responsible for the citrus disease...
“Identification and Functional Predictions of Long Non-coding RNAs in Sorghum bicolor, and Using HTP to Validate IncRNA Functional Predictions in Arabidopsis thaliana” Project Summary: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were once considered insignificant...
“Observed Cardenolide Variation Amongst Milkweed Tissue and Its Physiological Effect on ATPase Activity” Project Summary: My project focused on chemical defenses within milkweed plants, involving questions of defense specialization, phytochemical diversity...
“High-throughput phenotyping of IncCOBRA1 and DXO1 mutants in Arabidopsis” Project Summary: Improvements in phenotyping using computational methods can allow for more accurately collected and analyzed phenotypic data that plant scientist can use to study...
“Uncovering Genetic Loci Underlying Fruit Development in Global Eggplant Varieties” Project Summary: Eggplant (Solanaceae melongena) is an economically and culturally important food crop grown worldwide. The domestication of crops involves the reduction of...
The Investigation of the SWI/DYAD gene in Glycine Polyploids are organisms with more than two sets of chromosomes due to whole genome duplications. Whole genome duplications usually occur through the formation of unreduced gametes. The DYAD mutant has been found to...
New cascade cyclization approach towards the amorfrutin class Amorfrutins are compounds found naturally in the plants Amorpha fruticosa and Glycyrrhiza foetida that have wide ranging potential benefits for human health, such as in the treatment of both type 2 diabetes...
Identifying Bottle Gourd Genes Responsive to the Infection of Papaya Ringspot Virus Bottle gourd is an important crop that has helped both ancient and modern civilizations thrive. Besides its applications in medicine, musical instruments, and containers, bottle gourd...
Genetic Characterization of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) Using Whole Genome Re-sequencing The cucumber (Cucumis sativus), member of the Cucurbitaceae botanical family, is a widely grown creeping vine plant that produces fruits which are commonly used as vegetables....
Coi Receptors in Maize: Beyond Jasmonic Acid Perception Jasmonic acid (JA) is a lipid-based phytohormone that plays an important role in plant defense. It is released in response to tissue wounding and induces plants to undergo specific transcriptional changes that...
Pyramiding for Fruit Nutritional Quality: Elucidating the genetic basis of folate accumulation utilizing tomato F2 populations Folate (Vitamin B9), the collective name for tetrahydrofolate and its derivatives, are vital compounds required for the metabolism of nearly...
Estimation of hoverfly body size: using traits to predict body mass Hover flies are pollinating insects, which makes them significant as pollination directly impacts agricultural output and ecosystem function. Recent studies have shown that many flies have been in...
Virus-mediated overexpression of peptides in Golden Bantam maize to reduce fall armyworm larval growth To protect themselves against herbivorous insects and microorganisms, plant species have evolved physical and chemical weapons. The recently discovered PROPEP1 gene,...
Halting the Growth of Tomato Speck The purpose of our research was to develop a method to increase a tomato’s resistance to the plant bacterium Pseudomonas syringae, a bacterium that manifests itself in the form of black spots on the leaves the tomato plants and in...
Effects of tomatillo cultivar on floral phenotype and bee visitation Pollinators provide critical ecosystem services to some of the most nutritious crop species. Therefore, it is critical to understand the factors that contribute to pollination in pollinator-dependent...
A Genomic Framework for Informing Conservation of the Threatened Plant Species Aconitum noveboracense The genus Aconitum (known colloquially as monkshood and wolfsbane) is important both for its use in Traditional Chinese Medicine and for the range of metabolites it...
Screening Zea mays (maize) lines for DNA sequence variations of interest to further understand Multiple Disease Resistance (MDR) Maize is one of the most important staple and biofuel crops in the world (Schnable et al, 2009), feeding over 4.5 billion people (Research...
Identification of structural variations between genomes of cultivated tomato Solanum lycopersicum and its wild progenitor S. pimpinellifolium Cultivated tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, is an abundantly consumed crop worldwide, acting as a substantial source of nutrients...
De Novo Assembly of Rubisco Genes with the Help of Machine Learning Rubisco is an important enzyme in the process of carbon fixation and is the most abundant protein in the world. However, the sequences of Rubisco genes are not available for many plants. Increasing...
Characterizing the mechanism of cutin biosynthesis in tomato fruit When plants evolved from water to terrestrial they developed a hydrophobic covering on the exterior of the epidermis known as the cuticle. The cuticle plays such a vital part to plants as it controls...
Investigation into the SPL7-orchestated and miRNA regulated copper homeostasis and fertility in Brachypodium distachyon It is vital for both plants and animals to maintain copper homeostasis for an array of biological functions, including fertility. Specifically, our...
Identifying genes that regulate natural variation for maize leaf cuticular wax abundance and cuticular evaporation rate Maize is a critical component of animal feed, biofuel production, and, most importantly, our food supply. Yet, maize yield is significantly...
Exogenous Hormone Application Modulates Cardiac Glycosides in the Non-Model Brassica Wormseed Wallflower Cardiac glycosides, also called cardenolides, are defensive compounds produced in twelve different plant families that act as a broad-spectrum herbivore defense....
Protein Degradation in Chloroplasts Proteins are present in every facet of biological life and the timing of protein synthesis and degradation is key to ensure that each protein can perform its function effectively. To understand more about protein function and...
Determining the noncanonical function of Structural Maintenance Chromosomes 5 (SMC5) in plant innate immunity Plant immunity studies are characterized by making sense of the structure/function of genes that regulate innate immunity. The SMC5/6 complex has been found...
Elucidating the function of a novel cysteine-rich peptide during flower-to-fruit transition in tomato During fruit initiation, secreted peptides mediate communication between pollen and the female gametophyte, as well as the embryo sac and the surrounding female...
Exploring and Benchmarking Solutions for Storing Polyploids and Indels on the Genomic Open-source Breeding Informatics Initiative (GOBii) Today, there is a high demand for revolutionary technologies that allow for fast, inexpensive, and accurate sequencing of genomic...
Analysis of fruit-specific SLDML2 overexpression on ripening-related DNA demethylation in tomato fruit Global agriculture today is facing the daunting problem of feeding a growing population on a decreasing amount of arable land. While increasing yields represents one...
The First Steps in the Genetic Improvement of Goji (Lycium barbarum) Goji (Lycium barbarum) is a member of the Solanaceae family alongside tomato, potato, and pepper. Goji berries possess a wide range of reported health benefits in Chinese traditional medicine...
Plant-Pollinator Networks: How Plant Traits Affect Disease Transmission in Osmia lignaria Wild and managed bee species contribute to the country’s economy, agriculture, and biodiversity. Due to many factors including climate change, pesticide use, loss of habitat, and...
From Laboratory to Market: A New Disease Resistance Trait and Its Path to the Market As the Boyce Thompson Institute develops new plant science technology to improve people’s lives, agriculture, and the environment, its Technology Transfer Office is responsible for...
Exploring the Metagenome of the Harmful Algal Bloom Community in Cayuga Lake Harmful algal blooms (HABs) form green films that cover lakes and rivers during warmer months. Such blooms can last from a few short hours up to several months and come at a profound...
Investigating the molecular mechanisms of BAHD acyltransferase substrate specificity In order to both survive and thrive plants need to be able to respond to environmental stresses. One of the ways in which they do this is through secondary metabolites (also known as...
Regulation of the shoot apical meristem (SAM) is important for plant architectural development because it is the source of shoot growth and origin of organ development. In Arabidopsis thaliana, maintenance of the stem cell population at the SAM is accomplished by a...
The Sweet Potato Expression Atlas The domesticated sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a staple food, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. It has many nutritional benefits, including high carbohydrate, fiber, and vitamin content. Ensuring a hearty and healthy sweet...
Automated Detection of Plant Venation Plant grafting is an important agricultural technique because it allows for plants to become more resistant to disease, increase crop yield, or surpass juvenility. In grafting, the rootstock (roots) of one plant is attached to the...
Development of gene constructs targeting fruit ripening transcription factors of previously characterized by incomplete repression. With an increasing world population, challenges arise in producing and distributing enough food to feed the rising numbers of hungry...
Discovery of novel gene regulating arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis A majority of vascular plants, including most common crop species, are able to establish intracellular interactions with symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi which provide plants the access to...
Expanding genomic data management to transform breeding across crops and institutes The Genomic Open-source Breeding Informatics Initiative (GOBii) was created to combat the issue of barely increasing yields in developing countries within the last 10 years....
Exploring the bacterial endophyte communities of Lycopodiaceae Plant-microbe interactions have been instrumental to plant ecology since the first plant terrestrialisation over 400 million years ago. Endophytes, defined as microbes living within healthy plant tissue,...
