Hormone Archaelogy: Evolutionary biochemistry of the auxin signaling pathway

A largely unexplored question in biology is how hormone response networks emerged during evolution. In this project, we target this fundamental question by studying the origins of the auxin signalling pathway from plants. Our main focus is to reveal the ancestral molecular mechanisms of the auxin response factor-like (ARF) proteins from charophyte green algae. We combine biochemical and genetic approaches to characterise the structure, regulation and biological functions of these proteins using Penium margaritaceum as a model system.