Developmental roles of the TALE homeodomain KNOTTED1-like homeobox (KNOX) genes in the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Fong Mei’s research centred on investigating the functions of KNOX genes in patterning development of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and to explore whether flowering plant KNOX genes have retained the ancestral role in regulating life cycle phase transitions demonstrated in basal green plants. Using molecular genetic techniques, she generated and characterised novel KNOX mutant combinations, and through analyses of gene expression patterns, identified the loss of KNOX function as developmental phase regulators within the flowering plant lineage. Her thesis findings support the evolutionary diversification of KNOX function to pattern increasingly complex land plant body plans.