Speaker: Andrea Gallavotti, associate professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Title: "Mechanisms and manipulation of maize inflorescence architecture"

Abstract: Plant development relies on the constant activity of meristems, groups of stem cells that produce all organs and whose function is tightly regulated by genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors. In my lab, we investigate the molecular mechanisms that regulate meristem initiation and activity in maize by a combination of traditional developmental genetics and genomic approaches. I will present our recent work on understanding the regulation of meristem size, which in maize and other crop species influences yield, as well as our strategy to identify cis-regulatory regions in the maize genome that provide spatial and temporal resolution to gene expression. Thanks to the development of a novel combination of morphogenic regulators that improves maize transformation efficiency, we can now efficiently evaluate the function of many regulatory regions that can be harnessed to modify plant architecture and resistance traits.

Host: Dior Kelley, genetics, development and cell biology assistant professor