Recognizing The Plant Cell first authors: Wei Wang

Wei Wang, first author of OPENER Is a Nuclear Envelope and Mitochondria Localized Protein Required for Cell Cycle Progression in Arabidopsis

Current Position: Researcher, Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Education: PhD and BS, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University

Non-scientific interests: photography, movies, gardening, and mushrooms hunting

Brief bio: I am interested in plant biology as I grew up in the countryside and surrounded by all kinds of plants. And I also like to explore the unknowns. During my undergraduate and graduate studies in China Agricultural University, I was lucky to join the lab of Dr. De Ye and worked with Dr. Liqun Chen and other group members to identify genes important for male gametophyte development in Arabidopsis. With the great help of Dr. Yihua Zhou from Chinese Academy of Sciences, I managed to reveal the function of cellulose synthase like-D (CSLD) enzymes in pollen tube growth. After two years further training as a postdoc in Dr. Wei-Hua Wu’s lab at the Medical College of Georgia, I joined the lab of Dr. Totte Niittylä at Umeå Plant Science Centre in Sweden. Here we identified an interesting evolutionarily conserved unknown protein OPENOR that localizes to both nuclear envelope and mitochondria and is required for cell cycle progression in Arabidopsis.

姓名：王伟

目前职位：研究人员，瑞典农业大学于默奥植物科学中心

兴趣爱好：摄影，电影，园艺和采蘑菇

简介：我从小就对花花草草感兴趣，可能是因为在农村长大的缘故，出门满眼都是花草树木。而且，我对未知的事物总是特别好奇。如此种种便促成了我与植物学研究的缘分。得益于中国农大本科阶段扎实的培养，特别是早早地参与了真正的科学研究，让我有机会对植物科研产生了浓厚的兴趣，而且也习得了一些基本的研究技能和科学素养。从本科到博士毕业，我有幸加入了叶德老师的实验室，并且得到了陈立群老师的悉心指导以及实验室各位兄弟姐妹的帮助。特别是在中科院发育所周奕华老师的帮助下，我得以探究了纤维素合酶类蛋白CSLD在花粉管生长中的功能。博士毕业后，我又到佐治亚医学院Wei-Hua Wu实验室在表观遗传和蛋白生化方面进行了两年的博士后训练。然后，我来到了瑞典北部的于默奥植物科学中心，加入了Totte Niittylä实验室并鉴定到了一个在植物中高度保守的未知蛋白OPENER。OPENER的特殊之处在于它具有细胞核膜和线粒体的双重定位，而且它对于植物细胞分裂是必需的，突变之后导致早期的种子败育。有关OPENER的分子机制值得进一步的研究。