Feng Zhu: Plant Physiology First Author

Feng Zhu, first author of “A comparative transcriptomics and eQTL approach identifies SlWD40 as a tomato fruit ripening regulator”

Current Position: Postdoc at Huazhong Agricultural University and Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology,

Education: B.S. in Huazhong Agricultural University; Ph.D in Huazhong Agricultural University.

Non-scientific Interests: Basketball, badminton, traveling.

Brief bio: I graduated from Huazhong Agricultural University in 2017 under the supervision of Pro. Yunjiang Cheng of Citrus research team. And in 2018, I carried out cooperating PostDoc research between Huazhong Agricultural University (Pro. Yunjiang Cheng and Pro. Weiwei Wen group) and Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie (Pro. Alisdair R. Fernie group). During the PostDoc period, I focused on the genetic mechanism of metabolite shift after darkness and the identification of the ripening regulators. Combining comparative transcriptomics and eQTLs, we identified 16 candidate genes involved in tomato fruit ripening, validated them through virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) analysis and further confirmed the function of SlWD40 by stable transformation to demonstrate the power of the integration method. This study creatively integrates transcriptome and genome information to mine fruit ripening regulators, which provides new ideas for analyzing the regulatory mechanism of complex processes such as fruit ripening in the future.

姓名：朱峰

职位：华中农业大学&德国马克斯普朗克分子植物生理学研究所，博士后

学历：华中农业大学，学士学位

华中农业大学，博士学位

兴趣爱好：篮球，羽毛球，旅行

个人简介：博士就读于华中农业大学，师从园艺林学学院柑橘团队程运江教授。2018年进入华中农业大学园艺学博士后流动站（合作导师程运江教授和闻玮玮教授）与德国马克斯普朗克分子植物生理研究所Alisdair R. Fernie教授课题组合作开展博后研究。在博后期间，我聚焦于黑暗处理后的代谢物转变的遗传调控机制和成熟调节因子的鉴定工作。通过整合番茄果实转录组及 eQTLs信息，我们鉴定了16 个果实成熟潜在调控因子，并通过病毒介导的基因沉默（VIGS）技术初步验证了其对果实成熟进程的调控作用。为了进一步验证以上筛选方法的准确性，本研究挑选了一个前人未报道的SlWD40 基因，构建了其稳定超表达及干涉转基因材料，发现超表达果实成熟进程显著提前而干涉果实则显著延缓。本研究创造性地整合了转录组与基因组信息用于果实成熟调控因子的挖掘，为日后解析类似果实成熟等复杂过程的调控机制提供了新思路。