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| Susan Rundell
Singer Laurence McKinley Gould Professor of the Natural
Sciences Office: Hulings 308 E-mail:ssinger@carleton.edu |
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| Susan Rundell
Singer Laurence McKinley Gould Professor of the Natural
Sciences Office: Hulings 308 E-mail:ssinger@carleton.edu |
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We are interested in the development and evolution of inflorescence architecture with a focus on the legumes. Practically, inflorescence architecture has a significant effect on yield. In an evolutionary context it is fascinating that highly conserved genes create diverse floral architecture among species and families of plants.Specifically we are characterizing genes that affect the complexity of reproductive branching in the garden pea that also affect flowering in other species.
Our approach has been to identify mutants in pea that are homologs of cloned genes in Arabidopsis, explore genetic interactions, and develop a model of the genetic regulation of flowering in pea. The long-term goals of our research program are two-fold. First, genetic manipulation of inflorescence architecture can increase yield. The second aim is to understand the evolution of floral and inflorescence developmental pathways in the legumes using our pea model as a springboard. Comparisons with Arabidopsis are helpful, but the families are too distant to fully address evolutionary questions.
Our work is funded by the National Science Foundation 
