Seeds directly or indirectly supply the majority of human nutrition. Seed traits are important for the normal functioning of the ecosystem and seeds are also impacted by environmental stress. We use genetic, genomic, and epigenomic tools to understand how parents and the environmental conditions they encounter can control seed development.

We have previously discovered that the RNA dependent DNA methylation pathway mediates parental effects on seed development. I have also helped demonstrate how DNA methylation can modify seed traits.

Key contributions to our understanding of seed development