Therefore, they have developed unique biochemical and bioenergetic coping mechanisms which make for fascinating and useful areas of research. A second area of research in my laboratory is the relationship between short-term regulation of photosynthesis and chloroplast ultrastructure. Phil Rozak, a recently-graduated masters student from my lab, demonstrated that chloroplast thylakoid stacking can change significantly with a mere 10 minute increase or decrease in light intensity. This structural rearrangement has a direct impact on photosynthetic regulation, particularly in connection to State changes. Members of the genus Wolffia of the family Lemnaceae are the smallest flowering plants in the world.
Mature adults are only about half of a millimeter in diameter.
Keven Schepp, an undergraduate in my laboratory, has managed to get four species of local Lemnaceae into sterile culture and we are attempting to induce flowering in order to more fully study floral anatomy and ultrastructure in this unique group of plants. Buss, C.C. , T.G. Lammers and R.R. Wise. American Journal of Botany. G.F. Sassenrath-Cole and R.G. Percy. A comparative study of leaf anatomy in field-grown Gossypium hirsutum and G. barbadense .