Tao Wang: The Plant Cell First Author

Tao Wang, first author of “Maize RNA 3’-terminal phosphate cyclase-like protein promotes 18S pre-rRNA cleavage and is important for kernel development”

Current Position:  PhD student, Anhui Agricultural University

Education: BS in Biopharming, Anhui Agricultural University

Non-scientific Interests:  Hiking, reading, and cooking

Brief bio sketch: In 2017, I received a bachelor’s degree in biopharmaceuticals from Anhui Agricultural University. After a brief period of studying Arabidopsis, I joined Dr. Jun Yang’s lab in 2019 to pursue a PhD degree at School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University. Yang’s lab studies the factors that control maize kernel quality and development. The developmental process of the maize kernel is important; yet, as a major food crop, it is equally crucial to increase its nutritional content. In the current work, we discovered a critical enzyme called RCL1 that is necessary for maize kernel growth and protein production. RCL1 impacts protein translation via engaging in 18S pre-rRNA processing and ribosome formation, according to our findings. In the future, I intend to answer more scientific concerns regarding the maize kernel, as well as give useful candidate genes for improving its quality.

姓名：王涛

目前职位：安徽农业大学，博士在读

教育背景：安徽农业大学，学士学位

兴趣爱好：旅行，阅读，烹饪

个人简介：2017年，我在安徽农业大学生物制药专业获得学士学位。在经过短暂的拟南芥研究后，我于2019年很幸运地获得了在安徽农业大学生命科学学院杨俊教授课题组攻读博士学位的机会。杨老师实验室主要从事玉米籽粒品质和发育调控机制解析的工作，这是因为玉米籽粒的发育过程非常重要；同时作为粮食作物，如何提高其营养品质也很有意义。在此项工作中，我们鉴定出一个参与玉米籽粒发育和蛋白合成的关键酶RCL1，阐明RCL1通过参与18S核糖体RNA前体加工和核糖体形成从而影响蛋白翻译过程。与此同时，我正在进行如何降低玉米抗营养因子草酸的相关课题，在未来，我希望能够解释更多关于玉米籽粒的科学问题，并且能够提供有效的候选基因来改善玉米品质。