Sarah Mathews
Professor
Shirley C. Tucker Chair in Plant Systematics
SEE Division
MS in Biology: Montana State University, 1990
PhD in Biology: Montana State University, 1995
Post Doctorate: Harvard University, 2000
Office: 326 Life Sciences Building
Lab: 363 Life Sciences Building
Phone: 225-578-0761
Email: sarahmathews@lsu.edu
Lab Website: Sarah Mathews Lab @ LSU
Area of Interest
We study the evolutionary biology of plants. We use data from molecules, morphology, and environments to understand current patterns of plant diversity and historic changes in the Earth's vegetation through time.
Selected Publications
Nazem-Bokaee H, Hom EFY, Warden AC, Mathews S, Gueidan C (2021) Towards a systems biology approach to understanding the lichen symbiosis: opportunities and challenges of implementing network modelling. Frontiers in Microbiology 12: 28
Cai L, Arnold BJ, Xi Z, Khost DE, Patel N, Hartmann CB, Manickam S, Sasirat S, Nikolov LA, Mathews S, Sackton TB, Davis CC (2021) Deeply altered genome architecture in the endoparasitic flowering plant Sapria himalayana Griff. (Rafflesiaceae). Current Biology 31: 1-10. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.12.045
Povilus R, DaCosta JM, Grassa C, Satyaki PRV, Moeglein M, Jaenisch J, Mathews S, Gehring M, Friedman WE, Davis CC (2020) Water lily (Nymphaea thermarum) genome reveals variable genomic signatures of ancient vascular cambium losses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 117(15):8649-8656. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1922873117
Sundaram M, Donoghue MJ, Beaulieu JM, Farjon A, Filer D, Mathews S, Jetz W, Leslie AS (2019) Accumulation over evolutionary time as a major cause of conifer biodiversity hotspots. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 286: 20191887. doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.1887.
Li FW, Mathews S (2019) Phylogenetic methods to study light signaling. Pp 265-276 in: Phytochromes: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2026. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-9612-4_21.
Davis CC, Mathews S. Origin and Evolution of Land Plants (2019) Oxford Bibliographies. doi:10.1093/OBO/9780199941728-0119.
Leslie AS, Beaulieu J, Holman G, Campbell CS, Mei W, Raubeson LA, Mathews S (2018) An overview of extant conifer evolution from the perspective of the fossil record. American Journal of Botany 105(9): 1531-1544. doi:10.1002/ajb2.1143.
Dean GH, Asmarayani R, Ardiyani M, Santika Y, Triono T, Mathews S, Webb CO (2018) Recommendations for generating DNA sequence data in labs with limited molecular biology resources: lessons from a barcoding project in Indonesia. Applications in Plant Sciences doi:10.1002/aps3.1167.
Forest F, Baloch E, Brummitt NA, Bachman S, Moat J, Ickert-Bond S, Hollingsworth PM, Liston A, Little DP, Mathews S, Rai H, Rydin C, Stevenson DW, Thomas P, Buerki S. (2018) Gymnosperms on the EDGE. Scientific Reports 8: 6053. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24365-4.
Lu L, Mao L, Yang T, Ye J, Liu B, Li H, Sun M, Miller JT, Mathews S, Hu H, Niu Y, Peng D, Chen Y, Smith SA, Chen M, Xiang K, Le CT, Dang VC, Lu A, Soltis PS, Soltis DE, Li J, Chen Z. (2018) Evolutionary history of the angiosperm flora of China. Nature 554: 234-238. doi:10.1038/nature25485
Godfree RC, Marshall DM, Young AG, Miller CH, Mathews S (2017) Empirical evidence of fixed and homeostatic patterns of polyploid advantage in a keystone grass exposed to drought and heat stress. Royal Society Open Science 4(11): 170934.
Leslie AB, Beaulieu JM, Mathews S (2017) Variation in seed size is structured by dispersal syndrome and cone morphology in conifers and other non-flowering seed plants. New Phytologist 216: 429-437, doi:10.1111/nph.14456.
Li FW, Mathews S (2016) Evolutionary aspects of plant photoreceptors. Journal of Plant Research 129 (2): 115-122.
Pirone-Davies C, Prior N, von Aderkas P, Smith D, Hardie D, Freidman WE, Mathews S (2016) Insights from the pollination drop proteome and the ovule transcriptome of Cephalotaxus at the time of pollination drop production. Annals of Botany 117(6): 973-984.
Li FW, Melkonian M, Rothfels CJ, Villarreal JC, Stevenson DW, Graham SW, Wong GKS, Pryer KP, Mathews S (2015) Phytochrome diversity in green plants and the origin of canonical phytochromes. Nature Communications 6: 7852