Biodiversität und Pflanzensystematik Dr. Christiane Kiefer

Research interests

My research interests focus on different evolutionary questions in the Brassicaceae. Past and present projects are ranging from phylogeography (e.g. as in Koch et al. 2006, Kiefer et al. 2009) to questions related to trait evolution (e.g. as in Kiefer et al. 2017, Kiefer et al. 2019). I like to make use of comparative genomics for getting insights into genome evolution and for getting a hand on candidate genes related to traits of interest. 

For me one of the most exciting and complex traits is life history (further reading Kiefer et al. 2019). Broadly speaking life history can be divided into two strategies among flowering plants: annual plants complete their life cycle in one year and usually flower once while perennial plants live for many years and typically go through recurrent periods of reproduction.

The annual life history has evolved multiple times independently on family but also tribal and genus level in the Brassicaceae. Comparative genomic approaches across the Brassicaceae can help to shed light on the evolution of life history and may indicate putative candidate genes which play a role in the expression of this complex trait.