Recognizing The Plant Cell author Qiujiao Yang

Qiujiao Yang, first author of Receptor-Like Cytoplasmic Kinase CDG1 Negatively Regulates Arabidopsis Pattern-Triggered Immunity and Is Involved in AvrRpm1-Induced RIN4 Phosphorylation

Current Position: job candidate

Education: PhD (2020) in Botany, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

Non-scientific Interests: Music, Basketball, Badminton, Ping-pong

Brief bio:

I studied and finished my master’s thesis entitled “Genetic transformation of soybean with Bt toxin protein gene endowing insect resistance and safety evaluation of transgenic lines” at Northeast Agricultural University. In September 2016 I joined Pro. Jian-Feng Li’s lab at Sun Yat-Sen University to pursuit my doctoral degree in Botany and started my research on the role of receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase CDG1 in plant innate immunity. Under the guidance of my advisor, I found that CDG1 serves as a negative regulator of the pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) in Arabidopsis. CDG1 attenuates immune signal transduction and response by negatively regulating the protein accumulation of bacterial flagellin receptor FLS2 and fungal chitin receptor CERK1 through the MEKK1-dependent MPK4 cascade. Interestingly, I also found that AvrRpm1, an effector protein secreted into plant cells by Pseudomonas syringae, can hijack CDG1 to phosphorylate its host target RIN4 on multiple amino acid residues including Thr166, which will block flagellin signal transduction and cause plant susceptibility. This finding suggests a pathogenic mechanism of bacterial effectors that host immune regulators are hijacked to suppress host immunity. Here I would like to thank my advisor Pro. Jian-Feng Li for helpful instruction on my work. Although the process of scientific research is full of hardships, I never get tired of it. I have never seen the scene of Los Angeles at 4 am, but have seen the laboratory at every hour of one day. I am looking forward to devoting myself to academic research in plant molecular biology and make more achievements in the future.

 

姓名：杨秋姣

目前职位：求职中

教育背景：中山大学博士

兴趣爱好：音乐、篮球、羽毛球、乒乓球

科研经历简介：

攻读硕士学位期间我在东北农业大学学习，硕士课题是Bt毒蛋白抗虫基因对大豆的遗传转化及转基因株系的安全性评价。

2016年9月我考入中山大学植物学专业攻读博士学位，师从李剑峰教授，由此开始了对拟南芥类受体胞质激酶CDG1在天然免疫中的功能探索之旅。在导师的悉心指导下，我发现CDG1是拟南芥模式触发式免疫的一个负调控因子，并通过MEKK1介导的MPK4级联通路对细菌鞭毛受体FLS2和真菌几丁质共受体CERK1的蛋白积累进行负调控。有趣的是，我还发现病原菌丁香假单胞菌分泌到植物细胞内的效应蛋白AvrRpm1能够诱导CDG1与其宿主靶蛋白RIN4互作并磷酸化后者的Thr166和其它位点，从而抑制鞭毛信号转导并造成植物的感病性。我的发现暗示了一种细菌效应蛋白“借刀杀人”的致病机制。

我衷心感谢导师李剑峰教授对我多年的辛苦栽培。虽然通往科学发现的道路充满艰辛，但我乐此不疲。我虽然没有见过凌晨四点的洛杉矶，但我却见过一天之内每一个时刻的Li Lab。我愿意继续将我的汗水挥洒在科研道路上，并期待今后在学术上能够不断进步。