research overview
- Dr Kane's research uses population genomics and bioinformatics to address ecological and evolutionary questions related to domestication, adaptation and speciation. In sunflower, hemp, mustard and chocolate species, he examines how hybridization shapes evolution, via origin of new hybrid species, the breeding of domesticated plants, and the spread of invasive species. He is also embarking on projects to use genomics and marker-assisted selection develop more disease resistant sunflower cultivars, and additional projects studying wild sunflowers that have adapted to the shifting sands on the highest dunes in North America, at Great Sand Dunes National Park. He is sequencing hundreds of Cannabis genomes to understand the genetic differences between hemp, medical, and wild varieties, and their evolutionary history. Collaborating with Erin Tripp, he has used metagenomics to study lichen evolution and diversity, and the co-evolution of fungi and their photosynthetic symbionts. Collaborating with Brent Hulke, a sunflower breeder at the USDA, he is sequencing thousands of sunflower genomes, as well as hundreds of genomes of flax, Silphium and other species, to improve agriclutural sustainability
