Position Title
Professor Emerita
- Plant Biology
Research Interests
Our research focuses on the molecular basis of plant reproductive development and shoot apical meristem development. My laboratory has focused on three major areas: (1) analysis of the role of key transcription factors, such as the homeobox genes ATML1 and WUS, and the F-Box genes, such as ATSKP1, and hormones during post-zygotic plant growth and development using the model genetic system Arabidopsis, (2) pollination of flowers and postpollination ovary and fruit development using Phalaenopsis and Vanilla orchids (Orchidaceae), and (3) the photoperiodic control of flowering in the photoperiodic short-day plant, Pharbitis nil, the Japanese morning glory. Currently, we are engaged in multidisciplinary collaborative research on Vanilla planifolia and its Mesoamerican wild crop relatives (Vanilloideae, Orchidaceae) to study flower and fruit development, disease resistance (Fusarium), and critical issues facing small-holder farmers in food insecure and impoverished developing nations. We also maintain a collection of rare and endangered Vanilla species from four continents, including Vanilla planifolia wild-crop germplasm collected from the region of its evolutionary origin and related Vanilla species of Mesoamerican and South American origin.
CBS Graduate Group Affiliations
- 1975 M.A., Smith College
- 1982 Ph.D., Cornell University
- O'Neill, SD, Bui, AQ, Potter, D, Zhang, XS (2018) Pollination of orchid flowers: Quantitative and domain-specific analysis of ethylene biosynthetic and hormone-induced gene expression. International Journal of Plant Sciences 178:188-210.
- O'Neill, SD (2016) Plant Biology. Major Reference Works in the Life Sciences. Elsevier, Inc. Oxford, England, UK.
- Su, HS, Zhao, XY, Liu, YB, Zhang, CL, O’Neill, SD, and Zhang, XS (2009) Auxin-induced WUS expression is essential for somatic embryogenesis in Arabidopsis. The Plant Journal doi: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2009.03880.x..
- Zheng, CC, Potter, D., and O’Neill, S.D. (2009) Phytochrome gene expression and phylogenetic analysis in the short-day plant Pharbitis nil Choisy (Convolvulaceae): differential regulation by light and an endogenous clock. American Journal of Botany 96:1319-1336.
- Lu, P., Porat, R., Nadeau, J. A. and O’Neill, S. D. 1996. Identification of a meristem L1 layer-specific gene in Arabidopsis that is expressed during embryonic pattern formation and defines a new class of homeobox genes. The Plant Cell 8: 2155-2168.