Recognizing Plant Physiology authors: Mengqin Yao
Mengqin Yao, co-first author of METHYLTRANSFERASE1 and ripening modulate vivipary during tomato fruit development
Current Position: MSc student, Research Centre for Plant RNA Signaling and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Genetic Improvement and Quality Control of Medicinal Plants, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
Education: BSc in Bioengineering, Zhejiang Shuren College, Hangzhou, China
Non-scientific Interests: traveling, photographing, reading
Brief bio: After I completed my undergraduate study, I joined Prof. Yiguo Hong’s Research Center as a MSc student in 2018. Since then I have been dedicated to investigating epigenetic regulation in tomato fruit ripening along with Prof Hong and co-supervisor Dr Weiwei Chen. I have been focusing on how silencing of METHYLTRANSFERASE1 (SlMET1) induces vivipary in fruits of the tomato epimutant Colourless non-ripening (Cnr). We found that SlMET1-KD downregulated the expression of SlNCED, the latter encodes a key enzyme in the ABA biosynthetic pathway, resulting in a decrease in ABA concentration. Subsequently, seed dormancy was inhibited, and seeds geminated within fruits, i.e. vivipary. However, ripening in wild-type tomato where SlMET1 was knock-down by RNAi or VIGS as well as ripening-reversion caused by SlMET1-KD in Cnr fruits suppressed vivipary. These findings indicate that the fate of seeds within fruits was not only regulated by an epigenetic mechanism, but also coordinated by a fruit ripening pathway.
姓名：姚梦钦
当前职位：硕士研究生，植物RNA信号研究中心，杭州师范大学
教育经历：2014-2018，浙江树人学院，生物工程，本科
兴趣爱好：旅游，摄影、阅读
个人简介：自完成本科学习以来，我加入了洪益国教授的植物RNA信号传导研究中心，作为在读硕士研究生，在洪益国教授和合作导师陈微微副教授的指导下，致力于研究果实成熟过程中的表观遗传调控。我的研究是关于沉默METHYLTRANSFERASE1（SlMET1）引起Colourless non-ripening（Cnr）突变体胎萌。种子休眠的建立依赖于复杂的ABA激素调控途径，我们发现，SlMET1-KD通过表观遗传修饰调节了ABA生物合成途径中的SlNCED，导致ABA浓度降低，种子的休眠受到抑制，导致发芽；然而，在野生型番茄果实通过RNAi或VIGS沉默SlMET1和SlNCED不影响成熟、也不导致胎萌；同时SlMET1-KD导致成熟回复的Cnr果实中，胎萌受到抑制。这些结果表明种子胎萌不仅受ABA途径的表观遗传调控，而且还受到果实成熟通路地协同调控。
