What are some examples of DNA/RNA-level research related to botany?
- Â Assembling the plant tree of life, past and present. Assembling the tree of life requires a very close understanding of the relationships of specific plants to each other. Those relationships can be elucidated by studying and comparing the molecules and different structures of plants. Some of you may be familiar with genetic testing kits that use your DNA to help you understand your family tree. At BRIT, we use similar techniques to study the tree of life for plants and fungi, sequencing plant and fungal genomes and/or specific regions of these genomes to compare different individuals, and species, or even explore higher relationships among distantly related groups of these amazing organisms.
- Exploring, understanding, and discovering the genes responsible for the different characteristics/morphologies exhibited by plants and fungi along the tree of life. Examples from our work: genes that help form the basis of leaf development, genes that play a role in photosynthesis