Crop species such as maize, rice, and wheat are the major sources of global food and, therefore, crucial to human society and civilization. In the United States, maize is the most important crop species, based on area and production value. Understanding maize architecture and development is important for fine-tuning maize architecture to improve crop production and benefit farmers. 

Auxin, a plant growth hormone, plays a major role in determining maize architecture by affecting every aspect of development, including shoot, root, and inflorescence. Over several decades, studies have been conducted to uncover the mode of auxin action and the players involved. However, most of the information we have comes from studies in Arabidopsis, a non-crop species, and there remains a large gap in our knowledge of the auxin pathway in maize and other crop species. Understanding the mechanism of the auxin pathway in maize, a grass, is beneficial not only for maize improvement but also for other grasses like rice and wheat, as they share a common lineage and conserved gene and protein functions across many biological processes.

My project involves the phenotypic and functional characterization of two new genes in maize: enhancer of spi1 (eos1) and lateral rootless2 (lrs2), which are involved in auxin transport and affect inflorescence and early root development, respectively. My work involves the phenotypic and functional characterization of the eos1 and lrs2 genes in maize.

Publications

Robil J.M., Awale P., Mcsteen P., Best N.B. Gibberellins: extending the Green Revolution (2025) Journal of Experimental Botany, 76 (7), pp. 1837 - 1853 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erae476

Awale P., McSteen P. Hormonal regulation of inflorescence and intercalary meristems in grasses (2023) Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 76, art. no. 102451  DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2023.102451

Wilder S.L., Scott S., Waller S., Powell A., Benoit M., Guthrie J.M., Schueller M.J., Awale P., McSteen P., Matthes M.S., Ferrieri R.A. Carbon-11 Radiotracing Reveals Physiological and Metabolic Responses of Maize Grown under Different Regimes of Boron Treatment (2022) Plants, 11 (3), art. no. 241. DOI: 10.3390/plants11030241

Doctoral Program Committee

Dr. Paula McSteen (Chair)
Dr. David Braun
Dr. Andrea Eveland
Dr. Bing Yang