Recognzing Plant Cell first authors: Qian Zhang

Qian Zhang, first author of Blue light regulates secondary cell wall thickening via MYC2/MYC4 activation of the NST1-directed transcriptional network in Arabidopsis

Current Position: PhD candidate. National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics ＆ CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.

Education: BS, School of Life Sciences of Central China Normal University

Non-scientific Interests: Dance, music, cooking Chinese food

Brief bio: Driven by my interest in life science, I started to explore the functional genes in formation of the cotton fiber at Professor Xue-Bao Li’s lab in Central China Normal University for two years (2010-2012) and received my basic training of lab experiments. In 2012, I was recommended exemption from the entrance examination and admitted as a graduate student at the Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology. I entered Professor Laigeng Li’s group to pursue my graduate studies. The very encouraging and cooperative atmosphere of the Li’s group allows me to explore my research interest on regulation of secondary cell wall thickening. By observing and analyzing the phenotypes of different photoreceptor mutants, we found that CRY1 is one of the most important proteins that functions in regulation of NST1-directed secondary cell wall thickening in fiber cells. Using yeast-one-hybrid system, we identified several transcription factors binding to NST1 promoter, two of which were verified for their response to blue light. I am still working on the different wavelength of light for their roles in regulation of secondary cell wall formation.