Plant reproductive success both in nature and in an agricultural setting is determined by the production of flowers, fruits and seeds, which is developmentally regulated by the rate of stem cell proliferation and differentiation (homeostasis) in plant meristems. 

Yet, plant architecture can be quite diverse and plastic, as the underlying genes interact in networks that are modified by the allelic variants and genetic (redundancy, buffering and epistasis) and environmental interactions. Uncovering these interactions and allelic effects is key in our ability to dissect -and even modify- the genetic architecture of qualitative and quantitative traits influencing plant fitness and productivity, especially for present and future challenges brought by climate change. 

The Tomato Lab @ UMD primary goals are to characterize the molecular and genetic mechanisms controlling meristem homeostasis and design genetic strategies incorporating genome editing to uncover genetic interactions and modifiers that will allow better-predicting phenotypes from genotypes for crop improvement, using the crop model tomato.