Photo of Sara Martin

Sara Martin

Adjunct Research Professor

Degrees:B.Sc. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Guelph)
Email:sara.martin@canada.ca
Office:ECORC 960 Carling Ave
Ottawa, Ontario

Current Research

My research program encompasses areas including evolution, genomics, systematics, and weed science and has a focus on the Brassicaceae (Mustard Family). This includes work to understand: the evolution of herbicide resistance, the role hybridization and polyploidy in plant evolution, and the potential for gene flow between species.

Currently, my laboratory is focused on projects in four main areas:

  • Developing key areas of knowledge needed for the evaluation of novel crops from the Brassicaceae;
  • Examining the potential for hybridization between genetically engineered crop species and wild Canadian relatives within the Brassicaceae;
  • Understanding the evolution and spread of herbicide resistance in Canadian weed populations; and
  • Unravelling the systematics of the genus Camelina using genomics approaches.

The majority of our research currently focuses on Camelina sativa, the Brassica spp., Sinapis arvensis (Brassicaceae) and Kochia scoparia (a.k.a. Bassia scoparia – Amaranthaceae).

Selected Publications

Sara L Martin, Leshawn Benedict, Connie A Sauder, Wei Wei, Leandro Oliveira da Costa, Linda M Hall, and Hugh J Beckie. 2017. Glyphosate resistance reduces kochia fitness: Comparison of segregating resistant and susceptible F2 populations. Plant Science. 261: 69-79.

Sara L Martin, Tyler W Smith, Tracey James, Fatma Shalabi, Paul Kron, and Connie A Sauder. 2017. An update to the Canadian range, abundance, and ploidy of Camelina spp.(Brassicaceae) east of the Rocky Mountains. Botany. 95(4): 405-417.

Kyle W Cheung, Fakhria M Razeq, Connie A Sauder, Tracey James, and Sara L Martin. 2015. Bidirectional but asymmetrical sexual hybridization between Brassica carinata and Sinapis arvensis (Brassicaceae). Journal of Plant Research. DOI 10.1007/s10265-015-0702-2

Sara L Martin, and Brian C Husband. 2012. Whole genome duplication affects evolvability of flowering time in an autotetraploid plant. PloS one 7 (9), e44784

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