“Small RNA-producing genes in plants: Improved methods and novel discoveries”

Michael Axtell, Penn State department of biology, presents this lecture. His research interests are listed as follows:

We are biologists who use diverse plant species to study a class of genes that produce small RNAs. Small RNAs went largely undetected until around the turn of the century. We now know that they are critical components of gene expression in nearly all eukaryotic organisms. These small RNAs are functionally united in that they all function as sequence-specific repressors of other genes. Small RNAs are especially important for regulating the developmental programs of both animals and plants. Our research addresses fundamental unknowns of small RNA functions in plants including:

Annotation of small RNA genes using small RNA-seq data

How and to what ends have small RNA pathways diversified during land plant evolution?

What are the sequence requirements for effective small RNA-target interactions in plants?

We use genetics, molecular biology, and genomics to answer these questions.