Meiosis and Diversity in Crops

Plant meiosis and the development of diversity in crop species

Meiosis is a part of the plant reproductive process. It is the point in replication that the plants are able to generate diversity, and hence is important to classical and molecular breeding. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Ernest Retzel has begun to dissect this process. So far, they have identified and characterized ten new genes in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. More importantly, they have identified hundreds of candidate genes that are likely involved in meiosis. This work will enable plant breeders to use these discoveries in the development of new crop varieties.