| Prof. Qiaomei Wang | Studies on metabolic pathway of glucosinolates and lycopene and quality improvement in vegetable crops | Our research mainly focused on the biosynthesis and metabolic regulation of several important bioactive metabolites, including glucosinolates in Brassica vegetables and lycopene in tomato. These metabolites are particularly significant to the quality of vegetables. So far, we have elucidated the pathway of glucosinolate biosynthesis, based on which we developed new ways for quality improvement of Brassica vegetables through metabolic engineering, and methods to maintain the postharvest quality of Brassica vegetables in developing countries. We have clarified the physiological effect and molecular mechanism of chemical regulation on quality improvement of Brassica vegetables, and elucidated the metabolic regulatory network of glucosinolate biosynthesis, based on which we developed new types of effective production patterns for Brassica vegetables. We have elucidated the molecular mechanism of transcription regulation by which Jasmonic acid promotes lycopene biosynthesis and found that this mechanism is independent of ethylene pathway. We also clarified the molecular mechanism by which Brassinosteriods enhance lycopene accumulation and quality improvement through its signal transduction component BZR1, as well as improve the flavor and quality via regulation of GLK2 gene in tomato fruits. | 2013.10.12 |
| Prof. Liping Chen | Wide hybridization and germplasm innovation of Brassica vegetables | Our works focus on the improvement of cruciferous crops by wide hybridization. The sexual and asexual hybridization (somatic hybridization, graft hybridization) techniques were used in our study. By embryo rescue techniques brassica tri-genomes germplasm was obtained between tuber mustard and red cabbage, which used as core germplasm to create the new hybrid combinations. And the synthetic Brassica juncea germplasm was obtained by the hybridization between B. rapa and B. nigra; The variant materials were acquired from grafting-chimeras between tuber mustard and red cabbage by means of sexual and asexual methods. Furthermore, the studies of the mechanism of grafting acquired characters was performed using the epigenetic modification; The efficient somatic hybridization system between tuber mustard and red cabbage was established. Finally, The cytology, molecular biology and molecular markers were analysized to understand the mechanism of formation of stem of tuber mustard. The results have important theoretical and practical significance for the innovation of crop germplasm. | 2014.4.1 |