Recognizing featured Plant Cell first authors: Wei Wang

Wei Wang, featured first author of Expression of the Nitrate Transporter Gene OsNRT1.1A/OsNPF6.3 Confers High Yield and Early Maturation in Rice

Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Education: Ph.D in Genetics at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Non-scientific Interests: Reading and music.

Brief bio sketch: After completing my MS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Southwest University, I was interested in Prof. Chengcai Chu’s lab in the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, which I joined in 2010 as a Ph.D. student. In 2015, I earned my Ph.D. and continued my work in the same lab in elucidating the functions of nitrate transporters. We found that OsNRT.1A has functionally diverged from previously reported NRT1.1 genes in plants, and functions in up-regulating the expression of nitrogen utilization-related genes not only for nitrate but also for ammonium, as well as lowering related genes. During this process, I became more and more interested in the signal transduction mechanism triggered by this nitrate transporter. Currently I’m still working in Dr. Chu’s lab to explore the pathways triggered by OsNRT1.1A and I hope to have further findings in this field.