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Damon R Lisch

Botany and Plant Pathology 

  • Associate Professor
WSLR Room B032

 General Information

Dr. Lisch is interested in the regulation and evolution of plant transposable elements and the role that transposable elements have played in the evolution of plant gene regulation.  Transposable elements, or transposons, are, by far, the most dynamic part of the eukaryotic genome, and the majority, often the vast majority, of plant genomes are composed of these genomic parasites.  Although they are an important source of genetic novelty, transposons can also be a significant source of detrimental mutations.  Because of this, plants (and indeed all eukaryotes) have evolved a sophisticated “immune system” whose function is to detect and epigenetically silence them.  Dr. Lisch’s research centers on determining the means by which transposons are detected and then maintained in a silenced state and the effect that this process has had on the trajectory of plant evolution.




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