Sara L. Martin Ph.D.

Research Scientist

960 Carling Ave. Ottawa, Ontario.

Current research and/or projects

Areas of Expertise

Determining the potential for transgene escape (Brassicaceae)
Understanding the evolution and spread of herbicide resistance
Improve information availability for bioresources (Brassicaceae)
Understanding the evolutionary role of polyploidization

Research and/or project statements

For most of human history weeds have been controlled using labour intensive hand weeding. Herbicides introduced in the 1940s revolutionized weed control in Canada leading to a relative abundance of food/per unit of labour in most industrialized countries. However, 60 weeds have evolved herbicide resistance in Canada and are estimated to cost Canadian Prairie farmers 1.1-1.5 billion/annually. In the US, farmers are returning to hand weeding because herbicides are now ineffective (e.g. in 2016 85% of cotton in Georgia was hand weeded).

Herbicide resistance is a clear threat to agricultural production within Canada and globally.

My research addresses this threat to the value chain by 1) determining the potential of herbicide resistance transgenes spread to weedy relatives and, 2) understanding the evolutionary consequences of herbicide resistance arising in weed species. This research is cross cutting with relevance to all nine sectors. However, it fits best within the biodiversity and bioresource sector by:

1) increasing our knowledge of herbicide resistant species,

2) enhancing our understanding of Canada’s biodiversity by studying the wild Brassicaceae species that may receive transgenes, and

3) providing authoritative science to support the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in meeting requirements of domestic legislation such as the Plant Protection Act, Plant Protection Regulations, the Seeds Act, and Seed Regulations (Part 5).

I am an evolutionary biologist rather than agronomist and I approach projects from that perspective. I combine field work and molecular approaches, which provide unprecedented power to understand evolutionary processes.

Professional activities / interests

Areas of Research

Plant Systematics, Ecology and Evolution
Weeds and Invasive Species
Plant Genetics and Genomics
Polyploidy

Areas of Technical Expertise

Flow cytometry and cytology
Genetics and genomics (e.g. ddRADTAGs and PacBio)
Bioinformatics (e.g. population genetics and genome assembly)
Statistics (R)
Field work

Additional links

https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=TauRLnIAAAAJ&hl=en

Key publications

Laforest, M. S. Martin, S. Meloche, B. Soufian, K. Bisaillon, F. Tardif and E.R. Page. 2021. Chromosome-Scale Draft Genomes of Common and Giant Ragweed Reveal a Potential Mechanism of Glyphosate Resistance. Annual meeting of the Canadian Weed Science Society, Halifax N.S., November 14-17.
2022 - View publication details
Laforest, M., Bisaillon, K., Soufiane, B. Maheux, L., Fortin S., Martin, S., James T. , Miville D. , Marcoux, A. and Simard, M.-J. 2021. Glyphosate Resistant Bird Rape Mustard (Brassica rapa) Through Introgression of a Transgenic Construct: Distribution and Genetic Characterization. Weed Science Society of America meeting, March 15-18, Online.
2021 - View publication details
WSSA conference 2020
2020 - View publication details
Plant and Animal Genome Conference, January 11-15, 2020.
2020 - View publication details
Martin, S.L., Lujan-Toro, B.E., Sauder, C.A., James, T., Ohadi, S., Hall, L.M. (2019). Hybridization rate and hybrid fitness for Camelina microcarpa Andrz. ex DC (♀) and Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz(Brassicaceae) (♂). Evolutionary Applications, [online] 12(3), 443-455. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eva.12724
2019 - View publication details
Amyot, L., McDowell, T., Martin, S.L., Renaud, J., Gruber, M.Y., Hannoufa, A. (2019). Assessment of Antinutritional Compounds and Chemotaxonomic Relationships between Camelina sativa and Its Wild Relatives. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, [online] 67(3), 796-806. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.8b04724
2019 - View publication details
Poster: Botanical Association of America, Rochester, MN 2018. flowPloidy: An R Package for determining Genome Size and Ploidy from Flow Cytometry Histograms. T. W. Smith, P. Kron, S. L. Martin.
2018 - View publication details
Colombo, S. M., Campbell, L. G., Murphy, E. J., Martin, S. L., & Arts, M. T. (2018). Potential for novel production of omega-3 long-chain fatty acids by genetically engineered oilseed plants to alter terrestrial ecosystem dynamics. Agricultural Systems, 164(March), 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2018.03.004
2018 - View publication details
Martin S.L., Benedict, L., Wei, W., Sauder, C. A., Beckie, H.J., and L. M. Hall (submitted) High gene flow maintains genetic diversity following selection for high EPSPS copy number in Kochia
2018 - View publication details
Oral Presentation: Botanical Association of America, Dallas/Fort Worth 2017. flowPloidy: An R Package for determining Genome Size and Ploidy from Flow Cytometry Histograms. T. W. Smith, P. Kron, S. L. Martin.
2017 - View publication details
Martin, S.L., Benedict, L., Sauder, C.A., Wei, W., deCosta, L.O., Hall, L.M., and Beckie, H.J. (2016 to be submitted). "Glyphosate resistance reduces kochia fitness: Comparison of segregating resistant and susceptible F2 populations.", Planta.
2017 - View publication details
Martin, S.L., Smith, T.W., James, T., Shalabi, F., Kron, P., Sauder, C.A. (2017). An update to the canadian range, abundance, and ploidy of camelina spp. (brassicaceae) east of the Rocky Mountains. Botany, [online] 95(4), 405-417. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjb-2016-0070
2017 - View publication details
Yan, H., Martin, S.L., Bekele, W.A., Latta, R.G., Diederichsen, A., Peng, Y., Tinker, N.A. (2016). Genome size variation in the genus Avena. Genome, [online] 59(3), 209-220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/gen-2015-0132
2016 - View publication details
Benedict, L., Sauder, C.A., James, T., deCosta, L.O., Beckie, H.J., Hall, L.M., and Martin, S.L. (2015). "Are there fitness consequences of EPSPS gene amplification in Kochia scoparia? The results of a competitive, segregating F2 greenhouse experiment.", Canadian Weed Science Society Annual Meeting 2015, November 24-27, 2015. (Abstract)
2015 - View publication details
Cheung, K.W., Razeq, F.M., Sauder, C.A., James, T., and Martin, S.L. (2015). "Bidirectional but asymmetrical sexual hybridization between Brassica carinata and Sinapis arvensis (Brassicaceae).", Journal of Plant Research, 128(3), pp. 469-480. doi : 10.1007/s10265-015-0702-2
2015 - View publication details
Martin, S.L., Sauder, C.A., James, T., Cheung, K.W., Razeq, F.M., Kron, P., Hall, L. (2015). Sexual hybridization between Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik (♀) and Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz (♂) (Brassicaceae). Plant Breeding, [online] 134(2), 212-220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pbr.12245
2015 - View publication details
Walsh, K.D., Hills, M.J., Martin, S.L., Hall, L.M. (2015). Pollen-mediated Gene Flow in Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz. Crop Science, [online] 55(1), 196-202. http://dx.doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2014.03.0194
2015 - View publication details
Cheung, K.W., Razeq, F.M., Sauder, C.A., James, T., and Martin, S.L. (2014). "Wild sex – The case of Ethiopian and Wild Mustard.", Canadian Weed Science Society meeting 2014, Montreal, Canada, November 16-19, 2014. (Abstract)
2014 - View publication details
Benedict, L., Sauder, C.A., James, T., Beckie, H.J., and Martin, S.L. (2014). "Is there a cost to glyphosate resistance in kochia?", 2014 CWSS Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC, Canada, November 17-20, 2014. (Abstract)
2014 - View publication details
Côté, M.J., Leduc, L., Kerr, D., Dollard, C., Blain, A., Catling, P.M., Mitrow, G., Martin, S.L., Smith, T.W., and Macklin, J.A. (2014). "Barcoding of Quarantine and invasive species in Canada: Invasive Plants.", Weeds Across Boarders, Ottawa, Canada, October 2014. (Abstract)
2014 - View publication details