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 Our research interests include signal transduction, functional genomics of plant defense responses in the model plants rice and Arabidopsis, in particular the defense pathway(s) involved in rice resistance to rice blast and bacterial blight; cross-talks between SA-dependent defense and growth hormones-mediated development. We have been working on rice functional genomics and new components in the GA pathway for agricultural application. We are also interested in developing rice plants with high yield and broad-spectrum disease resistance for application potential.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Zu-Hua He, Professor. Email: zhhe@sibs.ac.cn
Staff: Qun Li, Research Associate; Long-Jun Zeng, Research Assistant; Dr. Xiao-Dong Liu, Research Assistant; He-Nv Guo (emeritus)
Postdoctoral Fellows: Dr. Xiao-Zun Li
 Graduate Students: Mu-Yang Wang; Si-Hui Zhong; Dong-Lei Yang; Hui Shen; Bin-Bin Jiao; Yu Peng; Jing Xu; Lin Lin; Da-Wei Yan; Ming-Jun Gao; Ying Chen; Wei-Bing Yang
Graduated Student: Yi-Wen Deng, 2004 (PhD); Ying-Ying Zhang, 2003 (PhD); Er-Tao Wang, 2003 (PhD)
Control of Rice Grain Filling and Yield Enhancement by a Domestication-like Gene
Grain-filling, an important trait that contributes greatly to grain weight, is regulated by quantitative trait loci and is associated with crop domestication syndrome. However, the genes and underlying molecular mechanisms controlling crop grain-filling remain elusive. Here we report the isolation and functional analysis of the rice GIF1 (GRAIN INCOMPLETE FILLING 1) gene that encodes a cell-wall invertase required for carbon partitioning during early grain-filling. The cultivated GIF1 gene shows a restricted expression pattern during grain-filling compared to the wild rice allele, probably a result of accumulated mutations in the gene’s regulatory sequence through domestication. Fine mapping with introgression lines revealed that the wild rice GIF1 is responsible for grain weight reduction. Ectopic expression of the cultivated GIF1 gene with the 35S or rice Waxy promoter resulted in smaller grains, whereas overexpression of GIF1 driven by its native promoter increased grain production. These findings, together with the domestication signature that we identified by comparing nucleotide diversity of the GIF1 loci between cultivated and wild rice, strongly suggest that GIF1 is a potential domestication gene and that such a domestication-selected gene can be used for further crop improvement.
Major Publications:
Wang ET, Wang JJ, Zhu XD, Hao W, Wang LY, Li Q, Zhang LX, He W, Lu BR, Lin HX, Ma H, Zhang GQ, He ZH. (2008) Control of rice grain-filling and yield by a gene with a potential signature of domestication. Nature Genetics 40: 1370-1374. Yang DL, Li Q, Deng YW, Lou YG, Wang MY, Zhou GX, Zhang YY, and He ZH. (2008) Altered disease development in the eui mutants and Eui overexpressors indicates that gibberellins negatively regulate rice basal disease resistance. Mol. Plant 1: 528-537. Wang YL, Gao MJ, Li Q, Wang LY, Wang JJ, Jeon JS, Qu N, Zhang YL, He ZH. (2008) OsRAR1 and OsSGT1 physically interact and function in rice basal disease resistance. MPMI 21: 294-303. Zhang YY, Zhu YY, Peng Y, Yan DW, Li Q, Wang JJ, Wang LY, He ZH. (2008) Gibberellin homeostasis and plant height control by EUI and a role for gibberellin in root gravity responses in rice. Cell Research 18: 412-421. Zhang ZQ, Wang MY, Li ZM, Li Q, He ZH. (2008) Arabidopsis GH3.5 regulates salicylic acid-dependent and both NPR1-dependent and independent defense responses. Plant Signaling & Behavior 3: 537-542.
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