Contact
Email: samuel.caygill(at)gmi.oeaw.ac.at
Telephone: +43 1 79044/9836
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4193-0939
FORMER AND CURRENT POSITIONS
since 2019 - PhD candidate in the Dolan Group
2019 - BSc University of Oxford, UK
Research Projects
Understanding how Glyphosate Kills Plants
Glyphosate targets the enzyme EPSPS; a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of the aromatic amino acids. However, it is not fully understood how inhibition of EPSPS by glyphosate actually kills the plant. I use a variety of methods, including targeted and non-targeted LC/MS-MS to determine what factors may lead to plant death following glyphosate treatment. Understanding glyphosate lethality is key for predicting resistance mechanisms and discovering ways to reduce the non-target toxicity of glyphosate.
Understanding Enolpyruvyl Transferase Enzymes in Plants
There are two enolpyruvyl transferase enzymes. 1. EPSPS, the target of the herbicide glyphosate. 2. MurA, the target of the antibiotic fosfomycin. Some plants encode both enzymes, some encode only EPSPS. I have discovered those plants with both are more tolerant to glyphosate and am currently working to reveal how the enzymatic properties of MurA could allow it to confer glyphosate tolerance.
Research interests
Modern agriculture is reliant on herbicides to achieve sufficient yields to feed the current and future global population within planetary boundaries. My work focuses on the evolution and mechanisms of herbicide resistance and tolerance, the physiological effects of herbicide treatment on plants, and the enzymatic dynamics if herbicide target enzymes.