Research Direction

Rice false smut is a severe and widespread disease in major rice-growing areas worldwide. Recently, with the wide use of high-yielding varieties and heavy application of nitrogen fertilizer in rice cultivation, rice false smut emerged as the most devastating grain disease in rice production. The fungus (Villosiclava virens) secrets ustiloxins which are able to not only inhibit tubulin polymerization in a concentration- dependent manner but also induce the depolymerization of preformed microtubules, hence, ustiloxins are toxic to humans and livestock. We are trying to construct genetic mapping populations to clone false smut resistance gene from rice variety, on the other hand, we also make ATMT library to screen fungal virulence factors, hoping to explore the molecular mechanisms of false smut resistance in rice.

Although the importance of heterosis has apparently been recognized, and exploration of heterosis has benefited agriculture and society, the molecular mechanisms underlying this basic biological phenomenon still remain elusive. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (21~25 nucleotides), endogenously expressed, noncoding RNAs that are processed by Dicer-like proteins from stem-loop regions of longer RNA precursors. MicroRNAs can play important regulatory roles in animals and plants by targeting mRNAs for cleavage or translational repression. We analyze the expression patterns of selected miRNAs in different developmental stages and different tissues in an elite rice hybrid and its parents to explain the roles of miRNAs in the heterosis of rice hybrid.