Huiqi Zhao: The Plant Cell First Author

Huiqi Zhao, co-first author of “Delphinieae flowers originated from the rewiring of interactions between duplicated and diversified floral organ identity and symmetry genes”

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Sanya Institute, Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China

Education: Ph.D. at Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Non-scientific Interests: Listening to music and sports

Brief bio：I had developed a keen interest in plant diversity during the study for my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In 2014, I joined Prof. Hongzhi Kong’s lab for my Ph.D. study. My work was mainly focused on the development and evolution of the highly specialized flowers in the tribe Delphinieae (Ranunculaceae). I successfully applied the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) technique in a species of this tribe, Delphinium ajacis. By using D. ajacis as a model, I studied the functions of homologs of floral organ identity genes and floral symmetry genes and discovered that duplication, diversification of, as well as rewiring the interactions between, floral organ identity and symmetry genes, have been the key to the making of the Delphinieae flowers. After graduating, I moved to Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences as an assistant professor. My current work is to explore the evolutionary development and molecular breeding of tropical flowers.

 

第一作者：赵慧琪

发表论文：Delphinieae flowers originated from the rewiring of interactions between duplicated and diversified floral organ identity and symmetry genes

现在职位：海南省农业科学院/三亚研究院，助理研究员

教育经历：中国科学院植物研究所，博士

兴趣爱好：听音乐、运动

个人简介：我在本科和硕士期间就对植物多样性产生了浓厚的兴趣。2014年，我加入孔宏智研究员课题组攻读博士学位。我的工作主要聚焦在毛茛科翠雀族植物高度特化花的发育和进化。我成功地将病毒诱导的基因沉默(VIGS)技术应用于其中的一个代表物种（飞燕草）。以该物种为模式体系，我研究了花器官身份基因和花对称基因的功能，发现两类基因的重复、分化以及它们之间复杂调控关系的建立是翠雀族花形成的关键。毕业后，我作为助理研究员到海南省农业科学院工作，主要从事热带花卉的进化发育和分子育种研究。