Liang Zhang: The Plant Cell First Author
Liang Zhang, first author of “The tetratricopeptide repeat protein OsTPR075 promotes heading by regulating florigen transport in rice”
Current Position: Post-doctoral Research Fellow, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Education: Ph.D., Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Non-scientific Interests: Calligraphy
Brief bio: I graduated from Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences and joined Dr. Shiyong Song’s lab in Zhejiang University for postdoctoral research. I focus on the regulation mechanism of heading date in rice utilizing the methods in genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology. In previous study, we isolated and identified OsFTIP1, a rice florigen transporter, regulating the heading date by affecting the transport of RFT1 in rice under long-day conditions (LDs). The mutant of OsFTIP1 showed late heading date under LDs, but displayed no defects in short days (SDs) (Song et al., 2017), which suggests that there may be other proteins responsible for the transport of Hd3a in SDs. In this study, OsFTIP9, an interacting protein of Hd3a was isolated and characterized. Loss of function in OsFTIP9 led to an obvious late heading date under SDs. Further study revealed that OsFTIP9 specifically regulates rice flowering time under SDs through facilitating Hd3a transport from companion cells to sieve elements. In addition, we show that a tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR)-containing protein, OsTPR075, interacts with both OsFTIP9 and OsFTIP1, and strengthens their respective interactions with Hd3a and RFT1. Our findings suggest that the OsTPR075-OsFTIP1/9-RFT1/Hd3a module is ultimately important for the regulation of florigen transport in rice.
论文：The tetratricopeptide repeat protein OsTPR075 promotes heading by regulating florigen transport in rice
姓名：张亮
目前职位：浙江大学，博士后
教育背景：中国科学院武汉植物园，理学博士（植物学）
爱好：书法
个人简介：我博士毕业于中国科学院武汉植物园。在博士毕业后，我加入浙江大学宋士勇研究员课题组进行博士后的课题研究。我主要以水稻为研究对象，通过遗传学、生物化学以及分子生物学的方法，对水稻抽穗期的调控机理进行深入解析。在前期的研究中，我们分离鉴定了水稻成花素转运蛋白OsFTIP1，发现OsFTIP1通过影响RFT1的转运影响长日照下水稻的抽穗期。突变体Osftip1在长日照条件下表现出明显的抽穗变晚的现象，而在短日照下无抽穗期变化，表明短日照条件下可能是由其它蛋白负责Hd3a的转运。本研究通过对Hd3a的互作蛋白筛选，分离鉴定到Hd3a的互作蛋白OsFTIP9，通过基因编辑技术获得其突变体，发现Osftip9在短日照条件下表现出抽穗期明显变晚的现象。通过免疫足迹印记和免疫胶体金示踪技术发现OsFTIP9影响Hd3a从叶片到伴胞细胞的转运，进而影响水稻的抽穗期。更有意思的是，我们还分离鉴定到了一个功能未知的TPR家族蛋白OsTPR075，发现其可以同时与OsFTIP1和OsFTIP9相互作用，并且影响OsFTIP1与RFT1、OsFTIP9与Hd3a之间的互作强度，进而调控成花素的转运。该研究揭示了OsTPR075-OsFTIP1/9-RFT1/Hd3a分子模块调控水稻在长日照和短日照条件下成花转变的作用机制。
