Research Teams

 

Team name

Molecular Biology and Genetic Improvement of Hybrid Wheat

 

 

Principal Investigator

Dr. Yuling Jiao

 

Research Objectives

As a major crop in the world, bread wheat is also widely grown in Shandong. There is a continuous demand to increase bread wheat yield, whichis determined by the three key components, namely spikes per unit land area, grain number per spike, and grain weight. Our group’s researchfocuses on genetic dissection of abovementionedkey determining traits of yield.We further apply the gained knowledge into molecular design breeding. Our main research objectives are:

l   Cloning causal genes that control spike grain number and grain weight.

l   Elucidating the genetic determinants and its regulatory mechanism of effective tiller number formation.

l   Leveraging molecular design breeding to develop elite wheat varieties.

To achieve these objectives, we are applying forward and reverse genetic approaches to hunt genes underlying the abovementioned agronomic traits. Forward genetic approach is taking advantage of mutants characterized from an in-house developed wheat TILLING population derived from chemical mutagenesis. In an attempt to boost wheat genetics, we also investigate barley mutants,which are defective in spike development. For the reverse genetic approach, we apply CRISPR to study the biological function of wheat orthologs of the known floral organ genes in other cereal species, such as rice, maize, barley and Brachypodium. The knowledge derived from basic researchwill advance our understanding of grain yield improvement of cereal crops in general, and wheat in specific. Our ultimate goal is to manipulate candidate genes to introduce favored agronomic traits into elite wheat varieties through molecular design breeding.

Team members

l Bo Wei, Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Associate Scientist, Yield molecular biology and molecular breeding in wheat

l Mingjiu Li, Ph.D. in Genetics, Associate Scientist, Genetic dissection of grain number and grain weight related traits in wheat and barley

l Qilu Song, Ph.D. in Crop Genetics and Breeding, Assistant Scientist, Genetic dissection of effective tiller number formation in wheat

 

Research Projects

l Study on the molecular mechanism and breeding value of XJ5SLNPS, a novel gene for spikelet number, in improving wheat yield (2023-2026), National Natural Science Foundation of China. Project objectives: Exploration the molecular mechanism of XJ5SLNPS on the formation of yield-related trait and utilizing it forwheat yield improvement.

l Analysis of the role of TaCKX2 family members in the formation of wheat yield traits and their breeding value (2021-2024), National Natural Science Foundation of China. Project objectives: Analyzing the functions of the elite alleles of TaCKX2 family members and improving the wheat cultivars in the wheat ecological region in the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River.

 

Research Achievements

l Modulating spike architecture to improve bread wheat yield: We have identified a novel gene, DUO-B1, whose loss-of-function alleles have multi-row spikelets and increased yield.

l New varieties Beida 329 and Beida 4812: Two new high-yield bread wheat varieties under national and provincial variety evaluation, respectively.

 

Selected Publications

1.    Lian-Ge Chen^#, Tianlong Lan^#, Shuo Zhang^#, Mengkai Zhao^#, Guangyu Luo, Yi Gao, Yuliang Zhang, Qingwei Du, Houze Lu, Bimeng Li, Bingke Jiao, Zhangli Hu, Yingxin Ma, Qiao Zhao, Ying Wang^*, Wenfeng Qian^*, Junbiao Dai^*, Yuling Jiao^*. 2024. A designer synthetic chromosome fragment functions in moss. Nature Plants 10: 228-239.

2.     Huadong Zhang, Jinghan Song, Feiyan Dong, Yaqian Li, Shijie Ge, Bo Wei^*, Yike Liu^*. 2023. Multiple roles of wheat ferritin genes during stress treatment and TaFER5D-1 as a positive regulator in response to drought and salt tolerance. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 202: 107921.

3.     Zhaoxu Gao^#, Jianxin Bian^#, Fei Lu, Yuling Jiao^*, Hang He^*. 2023. Triticeae crop genome biology: an endless frontier. Frontiers in Plant Science 14: 1222681.

4.     Xiuwei Cao, Qingwei Du, Yahe Guo, Ying Wang^*, Yuling Jiao^*. 2023. Condensation of STM is critical for shoot meristem maintenance and salt tolerance in Arabidopsis. Molecular Plant 16:1445-1459.

5.     Ying Wang^*, Yuling Jiao^*. 2023. Cell signaling in the shoot apical meristem. Plant Physiology 193: 70-82.

6.     Yuling Jiao^*, Ying Wang^*. 2023. Towards plant synthetic genomics. BioDesign Research 5: 0020.

7.     Ziyuan Peng, Yuling Jiao^*, Ying Wang^*. 2023. Morphogenesis of leaves: from initiation to the production of diverse shapes. Biochemical Society Transactions 51: 513-525.

8.     Yuange Wang^#, Fei Du^#, Jian Wang, Ke Wang, Caihuan Tian, Xiaoquan Qi, Fei Lu, Xigang Liu, Xingguo Ye, Yuling Jiao^*. 2022. Improving bread wheat yield through modulating an unselected AP2/ERF gene. Nature Plants 8: 930-939.

9.     Ziyuan Peng^#, Daniel Alique^#, Yuanyuan Xiong^#, Jinrong Hu, Xiuwei Cao, Shouqin Lü, Mian Long, Ying Wang^*, Krzysztof Wabnik^*, Yuling Jiao^*. 2022. Differential growth dynamics control aerial organ geometry. Current Biology 32: 4854-4868.e5.

10.  Qingqing Wang^#, Marco Marconi^#, Chunmei Guan^#, Krzysztof Wabnik^*, Yuling Jiao^*. 2022. Polar auxin transport modulates early leaf flattening. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 119:e2215569119.

 

Patents

1.     Yike Liu, Jinghan Song, Bo Wei, Zhanwang Zhu, Juan Zou, Hanwen Tong, Ling Chen, Chunbao Gao. The application of TaPDIL4-1B gene in FHB resistance and the construction method of its transgenic plants. ZL 2022 1 0747589.6, July 25, 2023, China