Research Group "Plant Growth Regulation"

Plants show an indeterminate mode of growth, where new organs are reiteratively formed all life long. 

The above ground organs of higher plants are generated through the activity of stem cell centers, the so-called shoot meristems. 

Our research focuses on the molecular control of shoot meristem activity, especially how and which hormonal signals are involved in this process. 

Modulation of shoot meristem activity has a direct impact on quantity and quality of yield and is thus a central breeding target in agriculture, horticulture and forestry.

To characterize novel players in the molecular regulation of shoot meristem activity we use a cutting-edge interdisciplinary toolset by combining functional genomic methods with cheminformatics and chemical genetic approaches.