Zhiquan Qiang: Plant Physiology First Author

Zhiquan Qiang, first author of “The transcription factor ZmMYB69 represses lignin biosynthesis by activating ZmMYB31/42 expression in maize”

Current Position:  No academic position

Education: Ph.D. candidate in China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

Non-scientific Interests: Travelling and cooking

Brief bio:

I was fortunate enough to join Prof. Ying Fu’s lab at China Agricultural University to pursue my Ph.D. degree since 2017. The main research interests of Prof. Fu’s group are regulatory mechanisms of plant cell polar growth and the overall plant growth and development. Lignin is one of main components of typical secondary cell walls, which has vital roles in mechanical support, long-distance water transport, and plant defense. However, lignin is undesirable for biotechnological applications because its covalent interaction with cell wall polysaccharides limits the enzymatic digestion of agricultural biomass feedstocks. My PhD research work revealed an important role of ZmMYB69 in the hierarchical network that controls lignin biosynthesis in maize, and demonstrated that ZmMYB69 negatively regulates lignin biosynthesis by directly activating the expression of transcription repressors ZmMYB31 and ZmMYB42. Moreover, the study findings also implicate ZmMYB69 as a good candidate for the manipulation of lignin biosynthesis in biotechnological applications.

论文：ZmMYB69 represses lignin biosynthesis by activating ZmMYB31 and ZmMYB42 expression in maize

姓名：强治全

目前职位：无

教育背景：中国农业大学细胞生物学博士

兴趣爱好：旅行、做饭

个人简介：我有幸于2017年加入到中国农业大学生物学院傅缨教授实验室攻读博士学位。傅缨教授实验室主要从事植物细胞极性生长/植物生长发育调控机制的研究。木质素作为植物次生细胞壁的重要组成成分，在维持植物机械强度、水分长距离运输和植物抗病中发挥着重要作用。然而, 木质素与细胞壁中多糖交联也会影响生物质能源的利用。我博士期间的研究发现了玉米木质素合成层级调控网络中的一个重要成员ZmMYB69，并证明其做为转录激活因子，通过促进木质素合成途径中的抑制子ZmMYB31和ZmMYB42基因的表达，进而抑制木质素的合成。此外, 还有线索显示ZmMYB69控制玉米木质素合成有可能在生物技术应用领域有潜在的价值。