Karolina Heyduk, assistant professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and ISG Member: 

Karolina Heyduk is studying photosynthetically intermediate plants to help understand the repeated evolution of complex traits. Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a form of photosynthesis where plants take in carbon dioxide at night and store it for sugar production during the day. This nighttime activity helps plants use water more efficiently and allows them to better tolerate drought. Found in about 6% of vascular plants, CAM has evolved independently at least 60 times. How CAM evolved remains a mystery, and Heyduk will address this gap by studying intermediate phenotypes (called C3+CAM) to understand their diversity and the genetic changes associated with their evolution.

Follow this link to read the full UConn Today article.

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