ZUO KAIJING 

Professor

Department of Plant Science;

Associate Dean of Agriculture and Biology School.

Tel：86-21-34205775，

E-mail：kjzuo@sjtu.edu.cn.

 

 

Ph.D. 2000 (Crop Genetics and Breeding), Huazhong Agriculture University; M.S. 1997 (Crop Genetics and Breeding).

 

Office Address:

Plant Biotechnology Center, School of Agriculture and Biology, Dongchuan Road 800, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China, 200240

 

 

Research:

Molecular Mechanism of Fiber Cell Development: Cotton is the chief source of natural fiber for the textile industry. Cotton fiber is a single cell trichome that elongates from the seed coat epidermal cell. Development of cotton fiber can be divided into four distinct and overlapping stages including fiber initiation, fiber elongation, secondary cell wall biosynthesis, and fiber maturation. Extension of cotton fiber cells starts on 0 DPA (day post anthesis) and lasts for about 20 days. The growth of fiber cells reaches a length of 3-5 cm before fiber maturation. Fiber quality is mostly determined by their growth rate and mode of initiation and elongation stages. Thus, the approach of the lab combines genomics and molecular genetic tools to analysis the transcriptional pathway controlling fiber initiation and elongation, and to identify likely cell-specific regulators and infer properties of the genetic circuitry of cellular specification. 

 

The root system of Arabidopsis thaliana is an excellent model to study the relationship between root development and stress tolerance. The research of this area focuses on the root system architecture to investigate how the root system architecture is regulated under the abiotic stress (salt or low nitrogen). At the root-soil interface, numerous interactions between plants and their environment take place. The diversity of functions and broad range of interactions with the environment render the development of roots complicated. Thus, the research of this area combines genomics and molecular genetic tools to characterize the ecotype of Arabidopsis with high nitrate use efficiency, and to extrapolate the molecular mechanism of root responding to changing soil conditions. Understanding this mechanism offers a great potential for altering root architecture and nitrogen uptake under abiotic stresses, allowing to design plants to survive and grow well under stress conditions.