Yunqing Yu: Plant Physiology First Author

Yunqing Yu, first author of “Grain shattering by cell death and fracture in Eragrostis tef“ 

Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Education: Ph. D., the Pennsylvania State University, USA

Non-scientific Interests: walking in nature, reading

Brief bio:

I received my bachelor degree at Nankai University, Tianjin, China. For my Ph.D. training, I joined Dr. Sarah Assmann’s lab at the Pennsylvania State University, USA, where I studied the function of heterotrimeric G proteins in salinity stress and guard cell responses in Arabidopsis thaliana. I currently work as a research scientist in Dr. Elizabeth (Toby) Kellogg’s lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, USA. Using various grass species as my study system, I am interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying morphological diversity and functional divergence. Specifically, I study and compare the mechanisms of abscission in different grass species. This study characterized the abscission zone development of Eragrostis tef, an orphan cereal crop originated in Ethiopia. We found that E. tef abscises through cell death and physical fracture in the stalk immediately below the caryopsis, different from the well described abscission via middle lamella degradation and cell separation in Arabidopsis and other dicot species. This study laid the groundwork for further reducing grain shattering in E. tef.

姓名： 于蕴卿

目前职位：唐纳德丹佛斯植物科学中心博士后研究员

教育经历： 宾夕法尼亚州立大学博士学位

兴趣爱好：散步，阅读

简介：

我在天津南开大学获得本科学位，随后加入美国宾夕法尼亚州立大学Sarah Assmann博士的实验室进行博士训练。我在博士期间主要研究拟南芥异源三聚体G蛋白在盐胁迫和气孔运动中的作用。我现在在唐纳德丹佛斯植物科学中心Elizabeth (Toby) Kellogg博士的实验室做研究员。我的现科研兴趣是研究禾本科植物形态和功能多样性的机制。具体来说，我研究和比较不同禾本科植物离层发育的机制。在这篇文章中，我们阐述了孤儿作物埃塞俄比亚苔麸的离层发育。拟南芥和其他双子叶植物的分离主要靠中胶层的降解和细胞分离，而我们发现苔麸颖果的分离主要靠细胞的死亡和断裂。本研究为进一步减少苔麸果实脱落奠定了基础。