Dr. Comai’s lab is involved in two areas pertinent to breeding. In the first, they study genome regulation, hybridization, and heterosis responses in chromosome copy number variants and interspecific hybridization. In the second, they develop and make available to the plant community a functional genomic discovery tool called TILLING that allows targeted inactivation of genes in crop plants. The research combines plant genetics and genomics with the use of next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics to identify genes responsible for traits of interest as well as to discover and use natural and induced variation.
Department: Plant Biology
Lab: Comai Lab
Email: luca.comai@gmail.com