Da Cao: Plant Physiology First Author

Da Cao, first author of “Auxin-independent effects of apical dominance induce changes in phytohormones correlated with bud outgrowth”

Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher at Laboratory of Functional Plant Biology, Ghent University

Education:

PhD The University of Queensland, Australia (Principle supervisor: Prof. Christine Beveridge)

MSc. The University of Melbourne, Australia (Principle supervisor: Prof. Ute Roessner)

BSc.  Henan Normal University, China

Non-scientific Interests: fishing, hiking and food hunting

Brief bio:

I was intrigued by biotechnology and agricultural science when I was studying my bachelor’s degree at Henan Normal University, China. Afterward, I pursued my Master’s degree with Prof. Ute Roessner at the University of Melbourne (Metabolomics Australia) and studied the function of plant hormones in regulating salinity stress in barley. This experience opened the gate of plant metabolomics for me and enlarged my eyes to the possibility of mass spectrometry-related technology in plant biology. Recently, I obtained my PhD degree from the University of Queensland, Australia with Prof. Christine Beveridge and investigated sugar and plant hormone-regulated shoot architecture which is an important trait contributing to crop yield. Currently, I am a postdoc researcher with Prof. Dominique Van Der Straeten at Ghent University and assessing the impact of climate change on the quality traits of crops.

In the present paper, we overturn a fundamental dogma namely that shoot auxin regulates cytokinin content in plants in apical dominance. Instead, combining hormone profiling and plant physiology, we find that sugar is a better candidate than auxin in regulating cytokinin levels during axillary bud release from apical dominance. We also evaluate axillary bud outgrowth from the perspective of multiple successive stages and show that sugars and cytokinins act first, then strigolactones, auxin and gibberellins. This paper provides a completely new framework of sugars and plant hormone-regulated axillary bud outgrowth in apical dominance. It may explain why different labs have previously produced different conclusions about auxin transport and other hormones.

姓名: 曹达

当前职位: 根特大学博士后研究员

教育经历：

博士，昆士兰大学

硕士，墨尔本大学

本科，河南师范大学

兴趣爱好：钓鱼，登山徒步，美食

个人简历:

我本科毕业于河南师范大学，生物技术专业。硕士期间，我加入了墨尔本大学Ute Roessner院士的课题组学习并研究了植物激素在大麦抗盐方面的功能。在此期间，我进行了代谢组学的训练并学习了质谱技术在生物学相关领域的应用。博士期间，我加入了昆士兰大学Christine Beveridge院士课题组并研究了糖和植物激素参与调控的植物分枝。目前，我在根特大学进行博士后研究。主要研究方向为全球气候变化对农作物内微量营养元素的影响。

我们的这项研究改写了一个众所周知的植物生理学常识：在去除顶端优势后，生长素是激发腋芽萌发的第一信号。我们利用激素分析和植物分子生理学等手段，发现在植物去顶之后，糖信号能够快速激发腋芽中细胞分裂素的积累，从而诱导腋芽萌发，而并非生长素。同时，我们研究了腋芽萌发不同阶段中糖和植物激素的相互作用。我们发现糖和细胞分裂素参与植物分枝的第一阶段 （腋芽萌发)，随后，独脚金内酯，生长素和赤霉素参与腋芽萌发的第二阶段 （侧枝持续生长）。该文章构建了一个全新的糖和多种植物激素信号参与的腋芽萌发及生长的调控网络，为今后的相关研究奠定了生理学层面的理论基础。