Dr. Baczyński’s Research Grant to Investigate the Evolution of Complex Blossoms in the Sunflower Family

25 07 2025

Dr. Jakub Baczyński from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology University of Warsaw received an NCN grant in the SONATA 20 competition: “How changes in meristem patterning drive evolutionary innovations: insights from syncephalia in the sunflower family (Asteraceae)”. He will investigate the origin of these complex inflorescences.

With over 32,000 species, the Asteraceae family is one of the largest and most diverse groups of flowering plants. Their evolutionary success is primarily due to the capitulum — a complex inflorescence resembling a single flower, observable in popular ornamental plants such as gerbera and marigold. Some members of the Asteraceae family elevate this complexity further by forming syncephalia: capitula composed of smaller capitula.

The project’s goal is to characterize the poorly understood evolutionary and developmental mechanisms behind the formation of syncephalia. By combining morphological, molecular, and bioinformatic methods, the study aims to analyze the ontogenesis of these structures in two ornamental plant species (billy buttons and globe thistles) and compare their genetic regulatory networks with those of closely related species that produce simple capitula. The results will contribute to a better understanding of how changes in meristem activity lead to morphological innovations.