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Current Projects
iPG2P: Relating Genotype to Phenotype in Complex Environments
Elucidating the relationship between plant genotypes and the resultant phenotypes in complex (e.g., non-constant) environments is one of the foremost challenges in plant biology (NRC, 2008). Plant phenotypes are determined by often intricate interactions between genetic controls and environmental contingencies. In a world where the environment is undergoing rapid, anthropogenic change, predicting altered plant responses is central to studies of plant adaptation, ecological genomics, crop improvement activities (ranging from international agriculture to biofuels), physiology (photosynthesis, stress, etc.), plant development, and many many more. A concerted attack on the G2P problem will require the combined and integrated efforts of specialists in functional-, quantitative-, and computational genetics/genomics, bioinformatics, modelers, physiologists, computer scientists (for topics from high performance computing to visualization), etc. Cyberinfrastructural innovations are required to facilitate collaborations this diverse. Read more.
iPG2P Working Groups
iPToL: Assembling the Tree of Life for the Plant Sciences
Knowledge of evolutionary relationships is fundamental to biology, yielding new insights across the plant sciences, from comparative genomics and molecular evolution, to plant development, to the study of adaptation, speciation, community assembly, and ecosystem functioning. Although our understanding of the phylogeny of the half million known species of green plants has expanded dramatically over the past two decades, the task of assembling a comprehensive "tree of life" for them presents a Grand Challenge. Read more.