Daoheng Hu: The Plant Cell First Author
Daoheng Hu, co-first author of “Multiplex CRISPR-Cas9 editing of DNA methyltransferases in rice uncovers a class of non-CG methylation specific for GC-rich regions“
Current Position: Research Assistant at the school of life sciences of Yunnan University, China
Education: PhD & Master in Genetics at Wuhan University, China. BSc in Biology at Wuhan University.
Non-scientific Interests: Traveling, Running, Animation.
Bio: I completed my PhD in the state key laboratory of hybrid rice, in the group of Yangsheng Li, studying the functional genome of rice. We used map-based cloning to explore many important agronomic traits genes in rice, and then reveal their function by cell biotechnology and biochemistry. After I finished my PhD in 2017, I moved to the group of Jixian Zhai at the Southern University of Science and Technology where we studied the epigenetic of crop plants. My research project is focused on understanding the landscape of non-CG methylation on the rice. We obtained various non-CG DNA methyltransferase mutants of rice by a high efficiency of the multiplex CRISPR-Cas9 system. Then we performed WGBS to analyze the methylation status of each mutants, and found the OsCMT2, OsCMT3a, and OsDRM2 are the three major non-CG DNA methyltransferases in rice. Furthermore, we found the non-CG methylation of a group of highly GC-rich regions is still existed without all the major non-CG DNA methyltransferases, and OsCMT3b, a homolog of OsCMT3a, can maintain the methylation of these GC-rich regions.
姓名：胡道恒
目前职位：助理研究员（云南大学生命科学研究中心）
教育背景：本科(武汉大学生命科学学院/生物学基地班)，硕士/博士研究生（武汉大学生命科学学院/遗传学）
兴趣爱好：旅游，跑步，动漫
科研经历简介：
我在杂交水稻国家重点实验室李阳生老师课题组完成博士研究生的学习，主要研究方向是水稻功能基因组。我们利用图为克隆技术在水稻中发现了很多与重要农艺性状相关的基因，并结合细胞生物学技术和生化分析阐释这些基因行使功能的分子机理和通路。当我在2017年博士毕业后，我加入到南方科技大学生物系翟继先老师课题组，主要从事重要农作物的表观遗传学研究。我主要的研究方向是水稻non-CG甲基化特点及调控模式。通过一种基于CRISPR-Cas9的高效的水稻多基因编辑系统，我们获得水稻各个non-CG甲基转移酶的突变体及其组合突变体。随后，我们采用全基因组甲基化测序技术分析这些突变体的甲基化状态。我们发现OsCMT2，OsCMT3a和OsDRM2是三个主效non-CG甲基转移酶。此外，我们还发现在这些主效non-CG甲基转移酶同时突变的情况下，有一部分富含GC序列的区域仍然可以维持non-CG甲基化，这些甲基化是由OsCMT3b(OsCMT3a的同源基因)所维持的。
