Participating Labs

The Difazio lab has a long history of work on tree genomics. In this project Steve's group is focused on mapping sex determination regions and understanding how plant sexual dimorphism influences herbivorous arthropod communities. 

The Keefover-Ring lab studies chemical ecology. In this project Ken is is testing for the presence of sexual dimorphism in secondary chemicals produced by leaves and flowers, which we hypothesize may be sexually antagonistic traits.

The Liu lab specializes in plant population genomics. In this project Prof. Liu and his group are mapping sex determination regions in several Asian poplars and willows as well as assessing patterns of sexual dimorphism.

The Olson lab also specializes in plant population genomics. In this project, Matt and his group are mapping sex determination regions in several North American poplars and willows and are studying patterns of sexual dimorphism in morphology and gene expression.

The Smart lab is focused on breeding in willows and other economically important species. They have developed a wealth of genomics and breeding tools that are being used to map sex determination regions, genes influencing sexual dimorphism in secondary chemistry, and genes influencing sexually dimorphic gene expression.

The Yin lab is focused on tree breeding and genomics. In the current project Prof. Yin and his group are mapping sex determination regions in Salix suchowensis and identifying the genes important for controlling sex expression.