Theoretical and Applied Innovation Laboratory of Crop Immunity
Team name
Theoretical and Applied Innovation Laboratory of Crop Immunity
Principal Investigator
Research Objectives
Plants have developed a sophisticated innate immune system to defend against pathogen attacks. Our primary research interest is to elucidate the activation and signaling mechanisms of crop immunity upon pathogen infections with an integrated genetic, biochemical, and cellular approach using bread wheat and Arabidopsis as tractable model systems. One signaling pathway of plant immunity is activated by plasma membrane-localized receptors upon recognition of extracellular ligands.We are trying to identifynew extracellular peptide signals that can be recognized by plant plasma membrane-localized receptors and elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which these peptide-receptorpairs regulate crop disease resistance.We are also focusing on the signaling crosstalk between plant immunity, development, and tolerance to abiotic stresses.Ultimately, knowledge gained from studying the mechanism of plant immunity will allow us to identify new targets and develop novel methods to improve crops for disease resistance.
Team members
Lijun Wang, Ph.D. in biology, postdoctoral, integrated analysis of peptide-receptor kinases in regulating wheatbroad-spectrum disease resistance.
Hong Chen, Ph.D. in biology, research associate, exploring the molecular mechanism of SCREW-NUT in regulating Arabidopsis autophagy and disease resistance.
Zhaoxi Lu, M.D. in bioengineering, research assistant, PIP1-RLK7 in the regulation of wheatbroad-spectrum disease resistance.
Jinghui Yan, M.D. in agronomy and seed Industry, research assistant, identification and functional analysis tomato secreted peptidesand receptor kinases in regulating tomato disease resistance.
Yaojie Feng,M.D.in biology, research assistant, the molecular mechanism of SCREW-NUT in regulating Arabidopsis resistance to Xanthomonas campestris.
Cuicui Du, M.D.in crop science, research assistant, identification of WRKY transcriptional factors in regulating wheatbroad-spectrum disease resistance.
Xiaomin Zhu,M.D. in biology, research assistant, identification and functional analysis of immunoregulatory peptides in wheat.
Zhongqing Yu,M.D. in biology, research assistant, peptidepost-translational modificationsandrelationships with wheat disease resistance.
Siru Shi, M.D. in plant protection, research assistant, screening and functional analysis of LRR-RKs regulating wheat broad-spectrum disease resistance.
Lujie Chen, M.D. in biology, research assistant, the molecular mechanism of SCOOP-MIK2 in regulating plant innate immunity.
Yongjian Zhang, M.D. in biology, research assistant, protein expression, purification,and peptide-receptor binding analysis.
Haiqing Liu, M.D. in agronomy and seed industry, lab manager. in charge of the daily affairs of the laboratory, including scheduling staff, ordering supplies, maintaining health and safety protocols, and training lab assistants.
Research Projects
l Trait discovery for leaf blight in maize (2021-2024),National Science Foundation of China.