Weibing Yang

Personal Profile

2020.9-present
Principle investigator, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Science / Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Science; CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence in Plant and Microbial Science (CEPAMS)
2014.1-2020.8
Postdoc, The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge
2007.9-2013.7
PhD. in Genetics, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
2003.9-2007.6
B.S. in Biology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing University

Research Work

Plant stem cells are distributed in meristematic tissues including the shoot and root meristems, vascular cambium, and meristemoid mother cells on the leaf epidermis. Active division and differentiation of stem cells and their progenitors lead to continuous formation of new tissues and organs, ensuring developmental plasticity in a changing environment. In cereal crops, the activity of stem cells determines the size of floral primordia, thereby directly affecting grain yield. Stem cell dynamics is regulated by both intrinsic chemical (hormonal) and physical (mechanical) signals as well as environmental cues. My lab uses Arabidopsis and rice as models to dissect:

1) The molecular mechanism of stem cell maintenance and differentiation;

2) Stem cell homeostasis in response to environmental signals;

3) Cell wall remodeling in stem cells.

Main Achievements

My research aims to understand the molecular control of plant stem cell dynamics. I have been using Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem (SAM) as a model to study de novo cell wall synthesis, hormone controlled stem cell proliferation, and the precise control of stem cell renewal by mRNA nuclear sequestration

Publications

1. Yang W, Schuster C, Prunet N, Dong Q, Landrein B, Wightman R, Meyerowitz EM. (2020). Visualization of protein coding, long noncoding, and nuclear RNAs by fluorescence in situ hybridization in sections of shoot apical meristems and developing flowers. Plant Physiology. 182: 147-158.
2. Yang W, Wightman R, Meyerowitz EM. (2017). Cell cycle control by nuclear sequestration of CDC20 and CDH1 mRNA in plant stem cells. Molecular Cell. 68: 1108-1119.
3. Prunet N, Yang W, Das P, Meyerowitz EM, Jack TP. (2017). SUPERMAN prevents class B gene expression and promotes stem cell termination in the fourth whorl of Arabidopsis thaliana flowers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114: 7166-7171.
4. Yang W, Schuster C, Beahan CT, Charoensawan V, Peaucelle A, Bacic A, Doblin MS, Wightman R, Meyerowitz EM. (2016). Regulation of meristem morphogenesis by cell wall synthases in Arabidopsis. Current Biology. 26: 1404-1415.
5. Yang W, Gao M, Yin X, Liu J, Xu Y, Zeng L, Li Q, Zhang S, Wang J, Zhang X, He Z. (2013). Control of rice embryo development, shoot apical meristem maintenance, and grain yield by a novel cytochrome P450. Molecular Plant. 6: 1945-1960.
6. Yang W, Ren S, Zhang X, Gao M, Ye S, Qi Y, Zheng Y, Wang J, Zeng L, Li Q, Huang S, He Z. (2011). BENT UPPERMOST INTERNODE1 encodes the class II formin FH5 crucial for actin organization and rice development. Plant Cell. 23:661-680.