Understanding the regulatory mechanisms modulating time of day control of temperature stress responses 

An important regulatory network that enables organisms to synchronize their metabolism, physiology and development to predictable daily and seasonal environmental changes is the circadian clock. In plants, both temperature and the clock controls many aspects plant growth and physiology. 

 

Our research goals are to understand the molecular basis of how the circadian clock enables plants to integrate external temperature signals and transmits information in response to extreme temperature changes. Our lab uses functional genomics,  genetics, and a variety of genome-wide approaches to address these goals across layers of gene regulation and in the context of time and temperature.

 

Conservation of clock components and clock controlled behavior across plant species, suggests that these findings can be translated, and the targeted pathways manipulated to improve thermotolerance in agriculturally important crops.