Plant meiosis under stress

Alterations in environmental conditions, especially extreme temperatures, have a huge impact on multiple meiosis processes in plants, including meiotic recombination, organization of the cytoskeleton network, and chromosome segregation, which consequently influences genetic diversity, genome stability and thus evolution. In addition to temperature, some other environmental factors like UV, can also affect one or more processes during meiosis in plants. Despite its importance for food security and plant evolution, the mechanisms underlying response and/or tolerance of meiosis to abiotic stresses remain poorly understood. The core research interest in our lab is addressing the underlying mechanisms controlling the response and tolerance of meiosis and genome stability in plants to environmental abiotic stresses.