Recognizing Plant Cell authors: Li Qin

Li Qin, co-first author of Specific Recruitment of Phosphoinositide Species to the Plant-Pathogen Interfacial Membrane Underlies Arabidopsis Susceptibility to Fungal Infection

Current Position: Ph.D. candidate in the lab of Prof. Yangdou Wei, Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan

Education: M.Sc. in Plant Pathology, Huazhong Agricultural University, China. B.Sc. in Plant Protection, Huazhong Agricultural University, China

Non-scientific Interests: swimming, travelling, rock climbing, and hiking

Brief bio: My interest in scientific research began with an undergraduate course — General Plant Pathology at the Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU), and I was attracted by various plant pathogens and their talented parasitic mechanisms. I joined the lab of Prof. Daohong Jiang at HZAU for my M.Sc., and worked on the tritrophic interactions involving the plant rapeseed, the pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and the mycoparasite Coniothyrium minitans. After two years of work in my hometown, I went on to pursue my Ph.D. degree in Biology in Prof. Yangdou Wei’s lab at University of Saskatchewan. My doctoral research focuses on the interactions between host Arabidopsis and incompatible and compatible powdery mildews. One of my Ph.D. research projects reveals that plant biotrophic and hemibiotrophic pathogens modulate the subcellular redistribution of host phosphoinositides and recruit PI(4,5)P₂ as a susceptibility factor for plant disease. I am currently investigating the cellular mechanisms regulating the reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton during Arabidopsis-powdery mildew interactions.