Homepage of Günter Theissen 's Research Group

Phylogeny of MADS-box genes: its relevance for the evolution of flower development and plant breeding

MADS-box genes contribute significantly to the development of inflorescences and flowers, e.g. by acting as floral meristem or organ identity genes . Up to now, MADS-box genes have mainly been studied in the scientific context of developmental biology, and in eudicotyledonous model plants such as Antirrhinum and Arabidopsis. The focus of our group is the application of current knowledge about flower development to breeding research and evolutionary biology. Therefore, we are currently characterizing the MADS-box gene family in other phylogenetic informative taxa. Among these are monocots, such as the important crop plant maize (Zea mays ssp. mays), the ornamental plants lily (Lilium regale) and tulip (Tulipa gesneriana), and non-flowering plants, including the gymnosperm Gnetum gnemon, the ferns Ceratopteris and Ophioglossum, and the moss Physcomitrella patens.

List of group members:

Günter Theissen
Annette Becker, Arend Bohne, Wim Deleu, Wolfram Faigl, Dirk Gassen, Katrin Henschel, Akira Kanno, Charlotte Kirchner, Zheng Meng, Britta Meyer, Thomas Münster, Christof Weiser, Susanne Werth, Luzie Ursula Wingen, Kai-Uwe Winter

pictures of most of us are available here...

Address:

Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung
Abteilung Molekulare Pflanzengenetik
Carl-von-Linne-Weg 10
D-50829 Köln
Germany
Phone: +49-221-5062-122
E-mail: theissen@mpiz-koeln.mpg.de

This site is under construction!!!!

for questions and remarks please send an e-mail to abecker@mpiz-koeln.mpg.de