Morpho-Anatomy and Development of Plants

Team activities

1/ Research

The team belongs to the Institute of Systematics, Evolution, Biodiversity, located at the National Museum of Natural History, Paris. We investigate the evolution of morpho-anatomical structures of land plants, at different taxonomic scales, and taking into account environmental constraints.

Body plan organizations and shapes are tremendously diverse in Embryophytes, and are subject to biotic and abiotic constraints. Our objectives are to describe this diversity and to explore the mechanisms underlying the acquisition of new shapes and organizations, during development (organogenesis and morphogenesis) and evolution. We focus on the evolution of placentation and synorganization in particular groups of Angiosperms, on the origin and evolution of the root system, and on the evolution of structure and functional plasticity of the meristems in Embryophytes.

We use various plant models (Embryophytes with or without flowers, model organisms or not) and the botanical collections (herbarium and living collections, spirit, tissue, and pollen collections) are pivotal for our research. Our technical and analytical expertise is crucial in a research unit investigating organismal diversity. We use a wide range of techniques such as morpho-anatomy, in vitro cultivation, imaging techniques (photon and electron microscopy), morphometrics and bioinformatics.

Keywords : Botanical collections, Development, Embryophytes, Environment, Evolution, Gravity, History of Botany, Histology, Meristems, Phylogeny, Plasticity, Teratology

2 - Teaching (MNHN, UPMC, AgroParisTech)

3 - Curation (at P Herbarium)

4 - Editorship (Adansonia journal)

5 - Expert assessments