Jeffrey Palmer has contributed to several research fronts in plant genetics, evolution and molecular systematics. His main, current interest is transfer of genes and introns between genetic compartments in cells and from organism to organism, a process called horizontal gene flow. In plants, those compartments consist of the nucleus, mitochondria and chloroplasts, each with their own DNA genome. Biologists believe that organisms have traded genes throughout the course of evolution. Palmer's research has particularly impacted current understanding of the origin of plastids from cyanobacterial endosymbionts, as well as the organization and evolution of the chloroplast genome. Palmer pioneered the field of chloroplast genomics starting with his graduate work in the early 1980s. By attracting numerous postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, who then established their own programs, Palmer jump-started research on the chloroplast genome and its application to evolutionary questions. According to Robert Jansen, Palmer's first postdoctoral fellow, "he's...