Position: Postdoctoral Researcher

During his PhD at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, Rafe sequenced the transcriptome of the seeds and leaves of the Southern African “resurrection plant” Xerophyta humilis. Over the course of his career, Rafe has acquired expertise in several fields of bioinformatics – particularly next generation sequencing data preparation and analysis.
Rafe’s research focus is on abiotic stress tolerance in plants, and the applications of this knowledge to improving tolerance in agricultural crops.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Lyall R., Gechev T. (2020) Multi-omics insights into the evolution of angiosperm resurrection plants. Annual Plant Reviews Online. 3: 1–34.

Lyall R., Schlebusch S. A., Proctor J., Prag M., Hussey S. G., Ingle R. A., Illing N. (2019) Vegetative desiccation tolerance in the resurrection plant Xerophyta humilis has not evolved through reactivation of the seed canonical LAFL regulatory network. The Plant Journal. 101(6): 1349-1367

Lyall R., Ingle R. A., Illing N. (2014) The window of desiccation tolerance shown by early-stage germinating seedlings remains open in the resurrection plant, Xerophyta viscosa. PLoS one: 9(3): e93093.