Recognizing Plant Physiology first authors: Jingjing Hou
Jingjing Hou, first author of ESA1 is involved in embryo sac abortion in interspecific hybrid progeny of rice
Current Position: Ph.D. candidate, Department of Plant Genetics and Breeding, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
Education:
2013-M.S., Agronomy, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
2010-B.S., Agronomy, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
Non-scientific interest: Playing table tennis, yoga, watching movies
Brief bio: After getting B.S. from Nanjing Agricultural University in 2010, I join the group of Prof. Chuanqing Sun to study the transformation of TAC1 gene using PMI/mannose marker-security selective system for M.S..
During the period of Ph.D. study, under the supervision of Prof. Yongcai Fu, we took interspecific hybrid progeny sterility as researching direction. In this study, we identified a gene ESA1 in hybrid backcross progeny from a rice CSSL derived from a cross between cultivar Teqing and Yuanjiang common wild rice, which is involved in female gamete abortion during early mitosis. Transgenic analysis indicated that changes in protein structure between ESA1 and esa1 affect female sterility. Sequence analysis found that the SNP site, T1819C, which changes the peptide chain length, was polymorphic in wild rice, but only 1819C exists in cultivated rice, suggesting that the variation in ESA1 might be associated with interspecific hybrid incompatibility between wild and cultivated rice. ESA1 knockdown in YIL42 transgenic lines restored fertility, and may be useful for overcoming the barrier of distant hybridization between cultivated rice and wild rice.
In the future, I hope to continue the study in the field of hybrid incompatibility and crop evolution.
