Maheshi Dassanayake
Professor
BMB and SEE Divisions
PhD: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009
Phone: 225-578-0960
Lab Phone: 225-578-4918
Office: A114 Life Sciences Annex
Lab: A144/A153/A153A/A155 Life Sciences Annex & 35/36/354 Life Sciences Building
E-mail: [email protected]
Area of Interest
In my lab, we seek to characterize and compare genomes to better understand genetic and evolutionary processes linking genotypes to phenotypes. A central feature of this is sequencing and decoding plant genomes. The overarching goal of my research is to understand how to interpret complex and fascinating messages embedded in genomes.
Why do we need to decode new genomes? Using genetic diversity to explain phenotypic diversity is necessary to understand life. Novel genomes allow novel ways of discovering and interpreting the genetic mechanisms underlying physiological and evolutionary processes. Insight gained from such processes will be needed in the development of crops for sustainable agriculture and effective conservation strategies, especially in the face of climate change, overpopulation, and increasing demand for food and bioenergy crops. For example, genomes from wild relatives of crop species can reveal unique genetic features that can be harnessed to improve the crops through breeding. This can be a highly desirable alternative to genetic engineering. Efforts in plant breeding are as old as the domestication of crops themselves, but further enhancement requires the exploitation of novel genetic resources.
How do we decode a new genome? Next Generation Sequencing technologies have revolutionized the field of genomics, providing new platforms applicable to any organism. However, understanding the blueprint of genomes continues to be a complex challenge. For example, being sessile, plants survive by adapting to changing environments. In adapting to environmental stress, evolutionary solutions have been achieved over time scales of millions of years, virtually in all plants, and for different stress types and severity. Some plants have evolved to be experts in adapting to extreme environmental conditions. These plants, called extremophytes should reflect the evolutionary trajectory leading to these capacities. By using both well studied models and new genomes, we can explore what the genome-level differences mean and how they translate into distinct phenotypes and lifestyles.
Please visit my lab website for more details about our research if you are interested.