We are a collection of research teams working on duckweeds. Duckweeds are the smallest and the fastest-growing flowering plants on Earth. Due to their simple body plan and ease of growth, they provide a highly tractable experimental model for asking fundamental biological questions. Their rapid growth and high protein content position duckweed as a future food and a chassis for synthetic biology. Collectively, our interests span both fundamental and applied research questions. 

Areas of expertise

• Development: Duckweeds have evolved from terrestrial plants and, in doing so, lost features such as apical growth and, in some cases, roots. We are uncovering the genes behind this organ loss.
• Photosynthesis: We are investigating how duckweeds adapt well to growth in both full sun and shaded environments.
• Nutrient Acquisition: Unlike most flowering plants, the duckweed root is not required for nutrient uptake, and fronds have taken over this role.  We are exploring duckweeds for novel nutrient transporters that can be exploited in other species.
• Microbiome: All organisms live in communities with the associated microbes. Due to the simplicity of water versus soil, duckweeds provide an excellent model for studying plant-microbe interactions. 
• Anatomy: The unique anatomy of duckweed underpins their adaptation to all the above processes. We are pioneering new ways of visualising duckweeds at the cell scale. 

Resources

RNA datasets

Physical stocks

We routinely use the following material Pistia stratoides, Spirodela polyrhiza (line 9509) and Wolffia australiana (line 8720).