Nature of meiosis in plants

In flowering plants, pollen mother cells undergo meiotic cell division to sexually reproduce male gametes with a halved number of chromosome sets that is crucial for the stability of genome ploidy over generations. Irregular meiosis can lead to unbalanced chromosome segregation with associated aneuploid progenies and impaired plant fertility, or cause meiotic restitution and production of unreduced gametes that potentially contribute to whole genome polyploidization. We have special interests in studying genetic and molecular mechanisms controlling processes including recombination, DNA damage repair, chromosome segregation, cytoskeleton organization, cell cycle progression and cytokinesis during meiosis in plants.