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SUMMARY:Looking at the genes behind Darwin’s abominable mystery - Edwige
  Moyroud\, Molecular Development
DTSTART:20120302T130000Z
DTEND:20120302T133000Z
UID:TALK35546@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:24938
DESCRIPTION:Darwin was bothered by what he perceived to be an abrupt origi
 n and highly accelerated rate of diversification of flowering plants. Rece
 nt advances in molecular biology provide us with new tools to look at this
  ‘abominable mystery’.\n\nFirst\, I will present some of the results o
 btained during my PhD\, focusing on LEAFY (LFY)\, a unique plant transcrip
 tion factor. LFY is a central regulator of floral development also present
  in non-flowering plants. Consequently a change in its properties has ofte
 n been invoked to explain the origin of flowers\, but experimental evidenc
 e has been lacking. I set up a SELEX experiment coupled with Illumina sequ
 encing to exhaustively characterize its DNA binding specificity. This expe
 riment led to a biophysical model that I validated in vitro and in vivo (C
 hIP-seq). This demonstrates the usefulness of such an approach to predict 
 target genes of a given transcription factor. Then\, I tested if LFY DNA b
 inding specificity is different in non-flowering plants and established th
 at a pre-floral network was already functioning in gymnosperms\, the siste
 r-group of flowering plants.\n\nTo conclude my talk\, I will briefly prese
 nt my current research project. The interaction between flowers and pollin
 ators has probably contributed to the rapid diversification of angiosperms
 . Plants\, like animals\, can produce vivid colour using nanostructures on
  their surface instead of using pigments. Iridescence is an example of a s
 tructural colour effect that bumblebees can use as a clue to detect flower
 s. As nothing is known about the development of such structures\, I am inv
 estigating the genetic basis of photonic nanostructures in nature\, using 
 Hibiscus as a new model species.\n
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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