Jiping Gao-Agricultural College of Yangzhou University

PUBLISHED: October 11, 2021READING:

Family Name

Gao

Given name

Ji-Ping

Gender

Male

Date of birth

1968/8/27

Title

Professor

Telephone No.

0514-87974757

Cell phone No.

19961851833

Email

jpgao@yzu.edu.cn

Fax

Organization and contact information

College of Agriculture, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China

Academic duties

Research Interests

Rice is one of the most important staple cereal grains that provides a major source of food energy and nutrition to humankind. We use rice as model plant and focus on the genetic regulation mechanism of grain quality traits. Current research projects in my laboratory include:
1) Transcriptional regulation of starch biosynthetic enzyme genes in rice endosperm
The edible part of rice is endosperm. Since starch accounts for approximately 90% of final rice endosperm weight, starch biosynthesis in endosperm greatly influences the grain quality and grain yield. Starch is a biologically and commercially important polymer of glucose and is synthesized to form starch grains inside amyloplasts. The functions of individual starch biosynthesis enzyme isoforms are well-documented, however, how these starch biosynthetic enzyme genes are regulated at transcriptional level remains poorly understood. We will identify transcription factors regulating starch biosynthesis pathway in rice endosperm.
2) Mapping and cloning QTLs related to grain quality traits
Another ongoing project is mapping and cloning QTLs associated with milling quality and grain appearance in rice. We have performed primary mapping four times for QTLs associated with 9 traits and identified some QTLs which could be consistently detected irrespective of year or growth conditions. Cloning and functional analysis of these QTLs in future will not only provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of the complex quality traits, but can also accelerate crop improvement by transferring valuable alleles from donor lines into the genome of cultivars.

Grants

National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0100902)
National Natural Science Foundation of China (31771754)
Guangdong Province Key Research and Development Program (2018B020202012)

Selected publications

Liu DR^#, Xu LN^#, Wang W, Jia SW, Jin SK, Gao JP^*. (2020) OsRRM, an RNA binding protein, modulates sugar transport in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Frontiers in Plant Science, 11: 605276. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.605276.
Zhang C, Li HJ, Wang JY, Zhang B, Wang W, Lin HX, Luan S, Gao JP^*, Lan WZ^*. (2017) The rice high-affinity K⁺ transporter OsHKT2;4 mediates Mg²⁺ homeostasis under high Mg²⁺ conditions in transgenic Arabidopsis. Frontiers in Plant Science, 8: 1823. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2017.01823.
Cui LG, Shan JX, Shi M, Gao JP^*, Lin HX^*. (2015) DCA1 acts as a transcriptional co-activator of DST and contributes to drought and salt tolerance in rice. PLoS Genetics, 11(10): e1005617. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005617.
Li XM, Chao DY, Wu Y, Huang XH, Chen K, Cui LG, Su L, Ye WW, Chen H, Chen HC, Dong NQ, Guo T, Shi M, Feng Q, Zhang P, Han B, Shan JX^*, Gao JP^*, Lin HX^*. (2015) Natural alleles of a proteasome α2 subunit gene contribute to thermotolerance and adaptation of African rice. Nature Genetics, 42(7): 827-833.
Cui LG, Shan JX, Shi M, Gao JP^*, Lin HX^*. (2014) The miR156-SPL9-DFR pathway coordinates the relationship between development and abiotic stress tolerance in plants. The Plant Journal, 80(6): 1108–1117.
Chen C, Chen H, Lin YS, Shen JB, Shan JX, Qi P, Shi M, Zhu MZ, Huang XH, Feng Q, Han B, Jiang L, Gao JP^*, Lin HX^*. (2014) A two-locus interaction causes interspecific hybrid weakness in rice. Nature Communications, 5: 3357. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4357.
Chen C, Chen H, Shan JX, Zhu MZ, Shi M, Gao JP^*, Lin HX^*. (2013) Genetic and Physiological Analysis of a Novel Type of Interspecific Hybrid Weakness in Rice. Molecular Plant, 6(3): 716-728.
Qi P, Lin YS, Song XJ, Shen JB, Huang W, Shan JX, Zhu MZ, Jiang LW, Gao JP^*, Lin HX^*. (2012) The novel quantitative trait locus GL3.1 controls rice grain size and yield by regulating cyclin-T1;3. Cell Research, 22(12): 1666-1680.
Gao JP, Chao DY, Lin HX. (2008) Toward understanding molecular mechanisms of abiotic stress responses in rice. Rice, 1(1): 36-51.
Gao JP, Chao DY, Lin HX. (2007) Understanding abiotic stress tolerance mechanisms: recent studies on stress response in rice. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 49(6): 742-750.
Ren ZH^#, Gao JP^#, Li LG^#, Cai XL, Huang W, Chao DY, Zhu MZ, Wang ZY, Luan S, Lin HX. (2005) A rice quantitative trait locus for salt tolerance encodes a sodium transporter. Nature Genetics, 37(10): 1141-1146.