Zhen Wang: Plant Physiology First Author

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Zhen Wang, first author of “PHOSPHATE RESPONSE 1 family members act distinctly to regulate transcriptional responses to phosphate starvation”

Current Position: The Open University of China, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Medicine, Lecturer

Education:

2015.9-2021.6, Tsinghua University, Plant molecular genetics, Ph.D

2011.9-2015.6, Nanjing Agriculture University, Horticulture, B.S.

Non-scientific Interests: Knitting, Hiking

Brief bio:

I started my research when I joined Prof. Dong Liu’s lab in 2015 at Tsinghua University with a focus on the molecular mechanism of phosphate starvation responses of Arabidopsis. One years ago, after obtaining my Ph.D degree from Tsinghua University, I became a lecturer at the Open University of China.

In this work, we explored functions and relationships between four PHR1 family members which play key role in regulating plant transcriptional responses under Pi starvation. By performing comparative phenotypic and transcriptomic analyses using Arabidopsis mutants with various combinations of mutations, we found that PHR1/PHL1 and PHL2/PHL3 function as two distinct modules in regulating plant development and transcriptional responses to Pi starvation. By analyzing their common and specific targets, we showed that these PHR proteins could function as both positive and negative regulators of PSR gene expression depending their targets. In addition, we identified a large set of defense-related genes whose expression is not affected in wild-type plants but is altered in the mutant plants under Pi starvation. These results increase our understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying plant transcriptional responses to Pi starvation.

 

第一作者: 王真

当前职位: 国家开放大学，农林医药教学部（乡村振兴学院），讲师

教育经历:

2015/09-2021/06，清华大学，植物分子遗传学，博士

2011/09-2015/06，南京农业大学，园艺学，学士

非学科兴趣：编织，徒步

个人简介：

本人于2015年进入清华大学生命科学学院攻读研究生，师从刘栋教授。博士期间主要从事拟南芥响应低磷胁迫的分子机制研究。一年以前我在清华大学获得了博士学位，之后在国家开放大学担任讲师。

在该研究中，我们探究了调控拟南芥响应低磷胁迫的关键转录因子家族PHR1中四个成员的功能和相互关系。通过对这四个基因的各种突变体组合进行表型和转录组比较分析，我们发现PHR1/PHL1和PHL2/PHL3在调控植物发育和响应低磷胁迫上属于两个模块。通过分析它们共同和特异的下游基因，我们发现这些PHR蛋白根据其下游基因的种类不同，在调控低磷响应基因时既可作为激活子也可作为抑制子发挥功能。此外，我们还鉴定了一系列在低磷时野生型中不显著调控而突变体中显著调控的免疫相关基因。以上发现拓宽了我们对植物从转录水平响应低磷胁迫的分子机制的理解。