Introduction

The studies in the Department of Plant Sciences aim at achieving a greater understanding of how plants regulate their development and the molecular basis of their stress response, along with the creation of novel crop germplasm. Our findings have promoted the integration of basic and applied research in the plant sciences, while at the same time enhancing research competitiveness. The Key Laboratory of Plant Development and Environmental Adaptation, supported by the Ministry of Education, is staffed by a group of young and middle-aged professional researchers. In each of its research areas, a number of significant advances have been achieved, leading to publications in, notably, Nature Communications, PNAS, Trends in Plant Science, Plant Cell, Plant Physiology, The Plant Journal and New Phytologist; in addition, the laboratory has won over 20 awards at either the provincial or the national level.

Research directions

1. Plant Molecular Biology

This direction covers the research on the physiological roles and molecular mechanisms of the key functional genes in crops (wheat, maize, sorghum, soybean, alfalfa and et al.,), and consequently by using molecular design and genetic modification to transform and generate high yield and quality, better stress resistance crop cultivars.

2. Plant Genetics

This direction covers the basic and applied research on crops such as wheat and maize, aims to investigate the mechanisms in improvement of crop quality, nutrient, stress tolerance with genetic and epigenetic methods, and to get the essential genes and molecular locus for development of modern agriculture.

3. Plant Development Biology

This direction uses model plant systems including Arabidopsis, maize, soybean and alfalfa, and aims to search essential genes and thus to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying for plant root, leaf and whole plant development, and to clarify the fundamental mechanism of these genes in phytohormone regulation of plant development.

4. Plant Cell Biology

This direction covers the investigation of plant cellular signaling network in response to abiotic and biotic stresses. The Arabidopsis, wheat and maize are used as model systems for this direction, and the genes, signal pathways and key phytohormones involved in plant drought, salinity, pathogen and nutrition deficiency, and the crosstalk among them are also included.