Recognizing Plant Physiology first authors: Bing Bai

Bing Bai, first author of Seed stored mRNAs that are specifically associated to monosome-are translationally regulated during germination

Current Position: Post-doc Researcher, Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University

Education: B.Sc. Henan Agricultural University, China; M.Sc. Ben-Gurion University, Israel; Ph.D. Utrecht University, the Netherlands

Non-scientific Interests: basketball, gym, guitar, world exploring

Brief bio: I thought I would be an athlete, but I gradually realized that I was on the track of being a plant scientist. This is just like what Forrest Gump remembered “Life is like a box of chocolates and you never know what you’re gonna get”. I got entangled with seeds during my BSc thesis in Department of Life Science, Henan Agricultural University, China. My project focused on the identification of protein markers for maize seed longevity with Prof. Wei Wang. That is where the mystery started. Later with a full scholarship from Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, Ben-Gurion University, Israel, I investigated seed metabolomics from both model and desert plant under desiccation in Dr. Aaron Fait’s group. The Bona Terra International Prize for Excellence in Desert Studies was awarded for my MSc research. Since then seed became important for my research and I am enthusiastic about this time capsule for its unique growth capacity and storability. During my PhD in the Utrecht University and in the meanwhile guest PhD in Wageningen University in the Netherlands, I was fortunate to join Dr. Leónie Bentsink’s group to investigate translational control in seeds after which I joined Dr. Johannes Hanson’s group in Umeå Plant Science Centre to continue this study. The work in the current publication is a joint force from both laboratories focusing on a genome-wide characterization of seed storage mRNA in association with ribosome. The aim of this work is to understand how these seed storage mRNAs are protected by association with ribosome and other protein components and identify their role during seed germination. Ribosome associated mRNAs in seeds are have contain a remarkable stability, more than thousand years in some species where mRNAs are known for their short life-times.

 

姓名：白冰

目前职位：博士后研究员，瓦格宁根大学植物生理学系种质资源实验室

兴趣爱好：篮球，健身，吉他，探索世界

简介：曾经一度以为自己会成为一名运动员，但逐渐意识到自己一直在成为植物科学家的轨迹上成长，正如阿甘名言“生活就像一盒子巧克力，你永远都不知道你将会得到什么”。与植物种子结缘都源于在本科论文在河南农业大学生命科学学院王伟教授的指导下做的一个关于对玉米种子活力分子标记的蛋白质组学研究。这是踏上一段神奇旅程的开始。之后在以色列本古里安大学沙漠研究所全额奖学金的资助下，在Aaron Fait博士实验室进行了两年关于模式植物和沙漠植物抗脱水性的代谢组学研究，研究成果获得Bona Terra沙漠研究杰出成就奖。从此之后种子成为了我主要的研究对象，我对种子这颗记录时间的胶囊所具有的独特的生长和储藏能力产生了浓厚的兴趣并加入Leónie Bentsink教授的课题组在荷兰乌特勒支大学和瓦格宁根大学以博士和客座博士的身份进行了种子翻译组学的研究。博士毕业之后，又加入瑞典于默奥植物科学中心Johannes Hanson教授课题组继续进行这项工作的博士后研究。这篇发表的研究就是在荷兰和瑞典两个实验室共同完成的工作成果。这项工作对种子与核糖体结合的储藏mRNA进行了系统性的基因组学研究，工作的目的是理解储藏mRNA受到核糖体的结合的保护机制以及其在种子萌发过程所起的作用。种子中与核糖体结合的储藏mRNA具有惊人的稳定性，它们在某些物种的种子中能够储藏上千年,打破了以往观念认为mRNA只有短暂的半衰期。