Qiong Nan: The Plant Cell First Author

Qiong Nan, first author of “Polarly localized WPR proteins interact with PAN receptors and the actin cytoskeleton during maize stomatal development”

Current position： Post-doc, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

Education: Ph.D., Lanzhou University, China

Non-scientific Interests: Cycling and other sports

Brief bio: My research career began as a graduate student inProf Yun Xinag and Lizhe An’s lab (2011) at Lanzhou University, plant biology department, where I worked on pollen polarity growth, and cytoskeleton. I was attracted by how plant growth and comminuted with the environment through certain proteins. Thus, after my PhD, I continued to pursue plant research and luckily joined Prof Michelle Facette’s lab (2017) at New Mexico University, where I learned for the first time about maize research, and I was amazed by the uniqueness of stomata architecture. I became interested in maize stomata development and function. Later Michelle’s lab moved to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2018), I continued my research in Michelle’s lab, and we identified a protein family called  WEB1/PMI1-RELATED PROTEIN ( WPR), which polarly accumulated in maize stomata, and act downstream of PAN2(a receptor kinase) to regulate actin-associated processes during stomata development. Those findings unravel a previously unidentified player in grass stomata development.

 姓名：南琼

目前职位：马萨诸塞大学，博士后， 植物研究院

教育背景：兰州大学，理学博士

爱好：骑车，体育运动

科研经历简介：2011年我加入了向云教授和安黎哲教授实验室，从事拟南芥花粉管极性生长和微丝骨架的研究。 从此培养了我对植物学研究极大的兴趣。 博士毕业以后，2017年作为博士后我加入了Michelle Facette 教授实验室并从事玉米气孔发育相关研究。 在此期间，我们鉴定出一个新的基因家族，WEB1/PMI1-RELATED PROTEIN ( WPR), 该家族基因极性定位在玉米气孔副保卫细胞细胞膜上，并作为内受体激酶PAN2蛋白的下游信号来调节微丝从而促进单子叶植物气孔发育。该发现为单子叶植物气孔发育研究提供了新的研究思路。