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Welcome to the Meyers Lab
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About Blake Meyers & the Lab

The Meyers Lab pioneered the application of the prior generation of high-throughput, short read technologies (MPSS) for mRNA and small RNA analyses. We led the way to the shift to Illumina’s SBS sequencing, co-developing the widely-used application of small RNA sequencing. We have also developed a number of other applications of this technology, plus the informatics to handle those data.

We are actively applying these methods to a variety of questions about small RNA biology and gene expression, particularly in crop plants, but also several models.

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Research in the Lab

Our current research includes programs that emphasize bioinformatics and plant functional genomics. These programs include:

  1. Analyses of small RNA, DNA methylation, and the genomes of rice, Arabidopsis and other species using short-read DNA sequencing technologies.
  2. Development and implementation of novel informatics approaches for the storage, analysis, display, and public release of these data.
  3. Functional and evolutionary analyses of several gene families of interest, particularly miRNAs, phasiRNAs and the proteins involved in their biogenesis, as well as NB-LRR disease resistance genes.

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Featured Publications

Tasselyzer, a machine learning method to quantify maize anther exertion, based on PlantCV

February 22, 2025

Comparative RNA profiling identifies stage-specific phasiRNAs and coexpressed Argonaute genes in Bambusoideae and Pooideae species

November 18, 2024

Premeiotic 24-nt phasiRNAs are present in the Zea genus and unique in biogenesis mechanism and molecular function

May 13, 2024

Plastid double-strand RNA transgenes trigger small RNA-based gene silencing of nuclear-encoded genes

June 13, 2023

Plant small RNAs: their biogenesis, regulatory roles, and functions

February 28, 2023

Pre-meiotic 21-nucleotide reproductive phasiRNAs emerged in seed plants and diversified in flowering plants

August 16, 2021

Transgenerational conditioned male fertility of HD-ZIP IV transcription factor mutant ocl4: impact on 21-nt phasiRNA accumulation in pre-meiotic maize anthers

March 10, 2021

Space: the final frontier—achieving single-cell, spatially resolved transcriptomics in plants

February 01, 2021

Reproductive phasiRNA loci and DICER-LIKE5, but not microRNA loci, diversified in monocotyledonous plants

January 13, 2021
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