Flowering plants are characterized by an astonishing diversity of sexual reproduction processes and the modalities of their control. Significant evolutionary transitions in the reproductive biology of flowering plants concern the shifts from outcrossing to predominant self-fertilization and the origin of separate sexes from hermaphroditism. The multitude of reproductive systems and the transitions from one system to another contributes to the evolution of biodiversity. In this context, the unity of this research group comes from the use of genomic tools to study the evolution of reproductive systems in plants.

          Our goal is to reach a better understanding of the genetic and molecular bases of reproductive systems at several levels. At the genomic level, we study the genetic architecture of genes controlling the self-incompatibility in different lineages (Oleaceae, Asteraceae, and Brassicaceae). The expression of these genes in the Brassicaceae family is regulated by microRNAs playing an important role in the interaction between dominant and recessive alleles. We study this regulatory network from both a functional and an evolutionary perspective. The third level of integration concerns the evolution of the gene families to which the genes of the S-locus belong and how they contribute to the diversification process leading to new specificities.