Deyue Yang: The Plant Cell First Author

Deyue Yang, co-first author of “Progressive chromatin silencing of ABA biosynthesis gene permits seed germination in Arabidopsis”

Current Position: Senior Research Fellow, Southern University of Science and Technology, China

Education: B.S. in Biology, Nanjing University, China; PhD in Plant sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK

Non-scientific Interests: reading, knitting and crochet

Brief bio:

I have always been interested in plant science and its potential application to improve the quality of life. After graduating from Nanjing University, I joined the Halliday lab to start my post-graduate study at the University of Edinburgh. My PhD thesis focuses on an understudied area of science that is vital to advance our knowledge of carbon resource management and biomass improvement in plants. In particular, I used Arabidopsis phytochrome mutants to investigate the molecular mechanism by which light activated signalling pathways interplay with carbon resources to control growth. After that, I joined Dr. Zhe Wu’s lab in Southern University of Science and Technology to study the role of an RNA-binding protein in promoting seed germination. Using physiological, molecular and genetic approaches, we have identified a gene encoding the rate-limiting enzyme for ABA synthesis, NCED6, as the key target of this novel regulator. Further investigations, including mass-spectrometry and ChIP-seq analyses, reveal potential involvement of histone modifications in this particular gene repression process. I hope this work would be of interest to both seed scientists and a more general community.

姓名：杨德月

现有职位：南方科技大学，高级研究学者

教育经历：南京大学，理学学士；爱丁堡大学，植物学博士

非科学兴趣：阅读，棒针和钩针编织

个人简介：我一直对植物科学及其在改善生活质量方面的潜在应用感兴趣。从南京大学毕业后，我加入了Halliday实验室，在爱丁堡大学开始了我的研究生学习。我的博士论文侧重于一个未被充分研究的科学领域，这对于提高我们对植物碳资源管理和生物量改进的知识至关重要。具体来说，我使用了拟南芥光敏色素突变体来研究光激活信号通路与碳资源相互作用以控制生长的分子机制。之后我加入了南方科技大学吴柘博士的实验室，研究一种RNA结合蛋白在促进种子萌发中的作用。使用生理、分子和遗传方法，我们将ABA合成途径中编码一个限速酶的基因NCED6 确定为这种新型调节因子的关键目标。进一步的研究，包括质谱法和 ChIP-seq 分析，揭示了组蛋白修饰在这一特定基因抑制过程中的潜在参与。我希望这项工作能引起种子科学家和更广泛的社区的兴趣。