Research Interest

Our research interests mainly lie in understanding the genetic and molecular basis underlying plants adaption to edaphic environments. Owing to its sessile nature, plant has to evolve delicate mechanisms to maintain appropriate level of mineral nutrient and water during its direct exposure to complicated soil environment. Therefore, the molecular machinery in regulating mineral elements and water use efficiency is very important for local adaptation of plants.

Our interests are then related to two areas: ionomics and abiotic stress.

• In the ionomics area, we are mainly interested in the genetic basis underlying the natural variation in leaf and grain ionome of A. thaliana and rice, the evolution driven forces forming the variation, and the role of the natural variation in local adapation and speciation. Meanwhile, we are also interested in the molecular mechanisms of ion homeostasis, and try to engineer high mineral nutrient, low heavy metal and high fertilizer use efficiency crops according to obtained information.

• In the abiotic stress area, we are mainly interested in salt and drought tolerance of A. thaliana and rice. After screening hundreds of natural accessions of A. thaliana and rice, we identified several extreme salt and drought tolerance accessions. We are now interested in mapping the causal QTLs/genes responsible for the tolerance traits of those accessions, and revealing the molecular mechanisms of plant adaptation to local adverse environments.