Saiying Hou: The Plant Cell First Author

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Saiying Hou, co-first author of “VPS18-regulated vesicle trafficking controls the secretion of pectin and its modifying enzyme during pollen tube growth in Arabidopsis”

Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China

Education: B.S. in College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

Non-scientific Interests: Reading, traveling and enjoying delicious food.

Brief bio: I completed my B.S. at the China Agricultural University in 2016. After graduation, I joined the lab of Prof. Li-Jia Qu at the Peking University as a Ph.D. student, studying the roles of VPS subunits of HOPS/CORVET complexes in regulating plant reproduction. Under the direction of Prof. Qu, we found the core subunit VPS18 played an important role in pollen tube growth through mediating the late endocytic trafficking in Arabidopsis. Our work showed loss of function of VPS18 disturbed the fusion between MVBs and vacuole, resulting in increased secretory activities in the tip region of pollen tubes. The excessive secretion altered pectin distribution and deposition of pollen tube cell wall and thus, arrested pollen tube growth. Besides, we found different subunits of HOPS/CORVET might form complexes of different combinations to implement specific and distinct function in plant reproduction. This work provides new insights into the possible functions and regulation of different subunits of HOPS/CORVET in endomembrane trafficking during pollen tube growth.

姓名：侯赛莹

职位：北京大学生命科学学院，在读博士生

学历：中国农业大学，生物学院，本科

兴趣爱好：读书、旅游和享受美食。

个人简介：我于2016年在中国农业大学取得理学学士学位。毕业之后，有幸进入北京大学瞿礼嘉教授的实验室攻读博士学位，致力于探究拟南芥中HOPS/CORVET复合体的VPS亚基在植物生殖过程中的功能。在瞿老师的指导下，我们发现HOPS/CORVET的一个核心亚基VPS18通过介导内膜系统的晚期内吞过程来调控花粉管的生长。VPS18功能的缺失会使得花粉管中晚期内吞体与液泡的融合出现异常，导致花粉管顶端的分泌活动增强。过多的分泌活动使得花粉管壁中果胶成分的分布和积累发生了改变，最终影响了花粉管的正常生长。除此之外，我们还发现HOPS/CORVET的亚基在生殖过程中可能会形成不同的复合体从而发挥不同的功能，有的亚基甚至可能具有独特的功能。我们的工作为揭示拟南芥生殖过程中，HOPS/CORVET复合体的亚基在内膜运输系统中的功能和不同的亚基参与调节不同生殖过程提供了新的证据和思路，这也是我们之后要继续探究的。希望我们的研究能为人们更深入地了解植物生殖发育过程提供帮助。