Moyroud Group
Postdoctoral Research Associate (x2) and Research Assistant (x2)
Dr Edwige Moyroud is seeking four people to join her research team conducting fundamental research investigating petal patterning.
Applications close:
- 5 June: Research Assistant
- 17 June: Postdoctoral Research Associate
Research interests
The Moyroud group studies the mechanisms that account for pattern formation in petals at the molecular, cellular, biophysical and ecological levels.
The colourful patterns on the petal of flowering plants are key to attracting pollinators and as such participate directly in the reproductive success of a species.
Because these patterns are often highly elaborate and combine differences in pigmentation, cell shape and ornamentation of the cuticle (a waxy layer that protects plant surfaces), their development is tightly regulated to generate neighbouring tissues with distinct properties.
This complexity warrants a multi-scale approach to expand our limited understanding of how these developmental patterns are controlled and whether the mechanisms are common across the 350,000 flowering plant species.
Examples of bullseye patterns in flowering plants, where contrasting colours and structures guide pollinators.
Pattern formation in petals
A key question is how such clear boundaries are established within the petal epidermis. Bullseye patterns, where the centre of the flower contrasts clearly with its periphery, are excellent examples of such a phenomenon and are commonly encountered in flowering plants.
Model system: Venice mallow
We are now investigating pattern formation in the petals of Hibiscus trionum (Venice mallow), a small hibiscus species that we can efficiently transform.
The flowers of this emerging model system exhibit a bullseye pattern: the dark proximal region possesses flat, heavily striated cells that produce an iridescent cue for pollinators, while the cells in the white distal region are conical and smooth, providing grip for visiting insects.
We have found that the overall effect is due to the development of adjacent regions with contrasting pigmentation, cell shape and cuticular patterns.
Approach and methods
To understand how the bullseye pattern is built, our group will combine naïve approaches with targeted strategies using emerging technologies and state-of-the art in planta imaging. This project is highly interdisciplinary and relies on our strong collaborative environment.
Objectives
- Understand how boundaries are set within a tissue in a coordinate fashion to generate functional patterns
- Test the potential role of flavonoids as developmental regulators coordinating patterning mechanisms at multiple scales
- Understand how evolution tinkers with these mechanisms to generate pattern variations between species or populations
Selected publications
Oud, S., Żurowski, M.M., van der Jagt, P.L., Yeo, M.T., Walker, J.F., Moyroud, E. and Vroomans, R.M. (2025) Recurrent Emergence of Boundary Cell Types During Evolution of Floral Bullseye Patterns, bioRxiv. DOI: 10.1101/2025.05.03.651954
Yeo, M.T., Fairnie, A.L., Travaglia, V., Walker, J.F., Riglet, L., Zeyrek, S. and *Moyroud, E. (2025) The genetic basis of replicated bullseye pattern reduction across the Hibiscus trionum complex, New Phytologist, 247(2), 863-883. DOI: 10.1111/nph.70168
Robertson, H.M., Walker, J.F. and *Moyroud, E. (2025) CAnDI: a new tool to investigate conflict in homologous gene trees and explain convergent trait evolution, Systematic Biology. DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syab052
Riglet, L., Zardilis, A., Fairnie, A.L., Yeo, M.T., Jönsson, H. and *Moyroud, E. (2024) Hibiscus bullseyes reveal mechanisms controlling petal pattern proportions that influence plant-pollinator interactions, Science Advances, 10(37), eadp5574. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp5574
*Moyroud, E., Airoldi, C.A., Ferria, J., Giorio, C., Steimer, S.S., Rudall, P.J., Prychid, C.J., Halliwell, S., Walker, J.F., Robinson, S. Kalberer, M., *Glover, B.J. (2022) Cuticle chemistry drives the development of diffraction gratings on the surface of Hibiscus trionum petals, Current Biology, 32(24), 5323-5334.e6. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.065
Walker, J.F., Smith, Hodel, R.G.J., Smith, S.A. and Moyroud, E.* (2021) Concordance-based approaches for the inference of relationships and molecular rates with phylogenomic datasets. Systematic Biology (accepted)
Middleton, R., Moyroud, E., Rudall, P.J., Prychid, C.J., Conejero, M., *Glover, B.J. and *Vignolini, S., (2021) Using structural colour to track length scale of cell wall layers in developing Pollia japonica fruits, New Phytologist, doi: 10.1111/nph.17346
Middleton, R., Sinnot-Armstrong, M., Ogawa, Y., Jacucci, G., Moyroud, E., Rudall, P.J., Prychid, C., Conejero, M., Glover, B.J., Donoghue, M.J. and *Vignolini, S. (2020) Viburnum tinus Fruits Use Lipids to Produce Metallic Blue Structural Color, Current Biology, 30(19), 3804-3810.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.005
Walker, J.F., Shen, X-X., Rokas, A., Smith, S.A. and Moyroud, E.* (2020) Disentangling biological and analytical factors that give rise to outlier genes in phylogenomic matrices, BioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2020.04.20.049999
*Giorio, C., Moyroud, E., Glover, B.E. and Kalberer, M. (2019) Direct depolymerization coupled to liquid extraction surface analysis high-resolution mass spectrometry for the characterization of the surface of plant tissues, Analytical Chemistry, 91, 8326-8333. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b01094
Moyroud, E. (2018) How to be STYLISH: columbine study sheds new light on the obscure mechanisms of nectary formation, New Phytologist, 221 (2), 614-617. doi: 10.1111/nph.15539
*Wilts, B.D., Rudall, P.J., Moyroud, E., Gregory, T., Ogawa, Y., Vignolini, S., Steiner, U. and *Glover, B.J. (2018) Ultrastructure and optics of the prism-like petal epidermal cells of Eschscholzia californica (California poppy), New Phytologist, 219, 1124-1133. doi: 10.1111/nph.15229
Moyroud, E., Wenzel, T., Middleton, R., Rudall, P.J., Banks, H., Reed, A., Mellers, G., Killoran, P., Westwood, M.M., Steiner, U., et al. (2017). Disorder in convergent floral nanostructures enhances signalling to bees. Nature. http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nature24285
Giorio, C., Moyroud, E., Glover, B.J., Skelton, P.C., and Kalberer, M. (2015). Direct Surface Analysis Coupled to High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry Reveals Heterogeneous Composition of the Cuticle of Hibiscus trionum Petals. Anal. Chem. 87, 9900–9907. Available at: http://pubsdc3.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.5b02498.
Vignolini, S., Moyroud, E., Hingant, T., Banks, H., Rudall, P.J., Steiner, U., Glover, B.J. (2014) The flower of Hibiscus trionum is both visibly and measurably iridescent. New Phytol., 196 (4), 1038-1047. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.12958.
Antoniou Kourounioti, R.L., Band, L.R., Fozard, J.A., Hampstead, A., Lovrics, A., Moyroud, E., Vignolini, S., King, J.R., Jensen, O.E., and Glover, B.J. (2013). Buckling as an origin of ordered cuticular patterns in flower petals. J. R. Soc. Interface 10, 20120847. http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/80/20120847.
Reviews
Doody, E. and *Moyroud, E. (2025) Evolution of petal patterning: blooming floral diversity at the microscale, New Phytologist, 247(6), 2538-2556. DOI: 10.1111/nph.70370
Salvi, E. and *Moyroud, E. (2025) Building beauty: Understanding how hormone signaling regulates petal patterning and morphogenesis, The Plant Journal, 121(6), p.e70101. DOI: 10.1111/tpj.70101
Moyroud, E., and Glover, B.J. (2017). The Evolution of Diverse Floral Morphologies. Current Biology. 27, R941–R951. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.053
Moyroud, E., and Glover, B.J. (2016). The physics of pollinator attraction. New Phytol.
Available at: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/nph.14312.
Glover, B.J., Airoldi, C.A., Brockington, S.F., Fernández-Mazuecos, M., Martínez-Pérez, C., Mellers, G., Moyroud, E., and Taylor, L. (2015). How Have Advances in Comparative Floral Development Influenced Our Understanding of Floral Evolution? Int. J. Plant Sci. 176, 307–323.
Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/full/10.1086/681562.
Vignolini, S., Moyroud, E., Glover, B.J., and Steiner, U. (2013). Analysing photonic structures in plants. J. R. Soc. Interface 10, 20130394.
Available at: http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/87/20130394.short.