Pepper Molecular Genetics and Plant Photobiology
Research Teams
Team name
Pepper Molecular Genetics and Plant Photobiology
Team Leader
Research Objectives
The team’s current research focuses on two themes. 1. Understand the geneticcontrolof agriculturally important traits in chili pepper, including capsanthin and capsaicin biosynthesis, and architecture of pepper plants. On one hand, large population of pepper mutants (~30K M2 independent lines) have been created by pollen EMS mutagenesis, which provide vast genetic resource for identification of key structural and regulatory genes involved in the target pathways. On the other hand, the stable genetictransformation systems have been established for generating transgenic pepper plants, which pave the way forfunctional studies of target genes. The long-term goal of this research is to take advantage of the knowledge linking the gene function andtrait to breed better peppers. 2. Decode the unknown action mechanisms of plant blue light receptors Cryptochromes (CRYs) and Phototropins (PHOTs).Blue light perception by CRYs and PHOTs mediate different light responses in plants, and CRYs primarily control plant photomorphogenesis and photoperiodic flowering time while PHOTs are responsible for phototropic growth of plants. Although both photoreceptors have been studied for about 30 years since discovered, many fundamental questions remain open.The team’s research concentrates on isolation and characterization of new regulators of CRYs activities and new components of PHOTs-mediated light signaling pathway. This research would help better understand how plants adapt to their living environment from necessity, which could also have important ramifications for improving the agricultural performance of crop plants grown under unfavored conditions such as low light.
Team members
l Fan Zhang, Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Associate professor, Molecular genetics of agriculturally important traits in pepper
l Tengfei Zhu, Ph.D. in Tree Genetics & Breeding, Postdoctoral associate, Molecular biology of blue light receptor Cryptochromes &blue light signaling
l Yulei Sui, MA in Bioengineering, Administrative assistant
l Xiaotong Sun, MA in Agriculture, Research assistant, Molecular genetics of carotenoids biosynthesis in pepper fruits
l Jing Wang, MA in Crop Genetics & Breeding, Research assistant, Molecular genetics of pepper pungency
l Luocheng Li, MA in Molecular Ecology, Research assistant, Molecular biology of blue light receptor Cryptochromes
l Yushuang Guo, MA in Pomology, Research assistant, Molecular mechanisms of blue light receptor Phototropins-mediated blue light signaling
l Qing Fan, MA in Agriculture, Research assistant, Pepper genetic transformation
l Xinjing Wang, MA in Agriculture, Research assistant, Pepper genetic transformation
l Pengfei Pan, BS in Agriculture, Greenhouse manager, Grow and maintainthe peppers in the field and greenhouse, pepper genetic breeding
l Zhen Zhuang, BS in Mathematics, Bioinformatician for analyzing various omics data
Research Projects
Plant m6A epitranscriptome (2023-2025)，Shandong Excellent Young Scientists FundProgram(Overseas). Project objectives:Aim 1. Study the epitranscriptomic mechanisms in regulating pepper growth and development to provide new insights and genetic materials for pepper breeding.Aim 2.Understand the regulation mechanisms of m6A installation in Arabidopsis.
Selected Publications
Bochen Jiang#, Zhenhui Zhong#, Lianfeng Gu#, Xueyang Zhang#, Jiangbo Wei, Chang Ye, Guifang Lin, Gaoping Qu, Xian Xiang, ChenjinWen, Maureen Gateas, Julia Bailey-Serres, Qin Wang, Chuan He, Xu Wang* and Chentao Lin* (2023). Photo-condensation of the CRY2/SPA1/FIO1 complex regulating mRNA methylation and chlorophyll homeostasis in Arabidopsis. Nature Plants.9: 2045-2058.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-023-01580-0
Bochen Jiang#, Zhenhui Zhong#, Jun Su#, Tengfei Zhu, Timothy Yueh, JielenaBragasin, Victoria Bu, Charles Zhou, Chentao Lin and Xu Wang* (2023). Co-condensation with photoexcited Cryptochromes facilitates MAC3A to positively control hypocotyl growth in Arabidopsis. Science Advances. 9, eadh4048.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh4048