Molecular Systematics

Molecular Evolution

Studies of variation in the DNA sequences that encode information needed to assemble an enzyme can show how much and what sort of variation can occur without affecting normal operation.

We are studying the chloroplast gene that codes for the enzyme responsible for capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide and introducing it into the photosynthetic pathway. There are numerous natural "experiments" among the wide array of flowering plants that provide examples of modifications of this enzyme and the effects that these alterations on enzyme activity.

Our initial goal is to use information about this variation to study flowering plant relationships, but the data can also be used to help understand enzyme evolution.