Professor Richard Waites
Director for Students

Profile

Biography

Career

Research

Overview

Our main aim is to investigate how, and why, plants make leaves of different shapes. We have used genetics to identify genes with roles in leaf development, and designed computer software to measure leaf shape and size variation. We are now focussing on the genetic factors that affect shape variation and aim to understand at the genetic level how this is regulated. We have assessed leaf shape variation in plants from, for example, different genetic backgrounds grown in different conditions. We are also interested in how the variation in leaf shape evolved and a further aim is to uncover how the functional significance of leaf shape variation has changed over time.

Discoveries

We discovered that computational methods can be used to rapidly assess variation of leaf shape and size. Using these methods we aim to determine the significance of leaf shape variation in Arabidopsis and a wide variety of other model plant species.

Projects

• A computational approach to identify meristematic genes that affect leaf shape (Funding body: White Rose)

Research group(s)