Desert StudiesRadiya Ali

Evaluating Climate Mediated Cam-c3 Photosynthetic Plasticity in Wild, Pre-columbian Domesticated, and Cultivated Agave Species

The overall objective of this project is to evaluate the extent of CAM-C3 photosynthetic plasticity in different Agave species (wild, semi-domesticated, and cultivated), as well as to understand the genetic underpinnings of this process through transcriptomic expressional analysis. This will serve as a means to characterize the response of genetic and physiological traits to different climatic conditions as well as how genes are regulated to shift to different modes of photosynthesis. Greater photosynthetic plasticity and levels of C3 photosynthesis, as primarily measured through water use efficiency and carbon assimilation, may be more prevalent in wild and semi-domesticated species due to greater genetic diversity, allowing greater adaptability to the effects of climate change.