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| Name |
Wessler, Susan R. |
| Location
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University of California, Riverside |
| Primary Field
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Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences |
| Secondary Field
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Plant Biology |
 Election Citation
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Wessler is a plant molecular geneticist who studies the role of transposable elements in generating genetic diversity. Her laboratory has shown that transposable elements are an important mutagenic force fueling plant gene and genome evolution. She discovered a new type of transposon, called MITES, and unraveled revealed key features of gene regulation through her comparative studies of rice and maize. |
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Research Interests
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The Wessler laboratory studies transposable elements (TEs) with a special focus on their identification in newly sequenced genomes and their contributions to gene and genome evolution. Her laboratory has pioneered the use of computational analysis to determine the TE landscape of many plant genomes including maize, rice, B. oleracea, arabidopsis, Lotus japonicus, poplar, amborella, mimulus, and citrus. Furthermore, they have tested the activity of numerous in silico TEs by developing transposition assays in yeast and arabidopsis. Her laboratory is best known for the discovery of miniature inverted repeat transposable elements (MITEs), which are the predominant TE associated with plant genes, and are abundant in the genomes of many animal species. |
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