Recognizing Plant Physiology first authors: Lei Liang

Lei Liang, co-first author of A sequence-indexed Mutator insertional library for maize functional genomics study

Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate. State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, National Maize Improvement Center, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, China, 2017-present

Education: Bachelor of Agronomy, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Southwest University, China, 2013-2017

Non-scientific Interests: basketball, music, and travel

Brief bio: I have been interested in the colorful plant world and how it can be beneficial for people since I was a primary school student. I was first introduced into the world of plant science during my undergraduate studies at Southwest University. When I assiduously study for my Ph.D., I was fortunate to engage in maize molecular genetics research in Dr. Rentao Song’s lab. This project was where I first encountered Mutator (Mu) transposable elements. Due to the high mutagenic activity, Mu elements have been used to generate maize mutant collections since 1990s. I was fortunate enough to participate in the construction of sequence-indexed maize Mu insertional library named ChinaMu. During this process, large amounts of data about Mu elements were generated, which can serve as the study of Mu characteristics. I will then work on this aspect of research.

共同第一作者：梁磊

当前职位：博士研究生，中国农业大学，作物遗传育种专业，2017年至今。

教育经历：农学学士，西南大学，农学与生物科技学院，2013年至2017年。

兴趣爱好：篮球，音乐和旅游

个人简介：从小学开始我就对五彩斑斓的植物世界，以及它是如何造福人类充满兴趣。我在西南大学本科学习期间，第一次走进了植物科学的世界。在我攻读博士学位期间，我有幸加入到宋任涛教授的课题组从事玉米分子遗传学的研究。这个课题是我第一次接触到Mutator （Mu）转座子。由于Mu的高诱变活性，它从20世纪90年代就被广泛用于玉米突变体库的构建。我非常幸运的参与到了名为ChinaMu的玉米Mu插入突变体库的构建。在这个过程中，产生了大量的Mu转座的数据，这个将对我们进一步研究Mu的特性有很大的帮助。我的下一步工作就是此方面的研究。