Yuanyuan Li

Personal Profile

2021-present Principal Investigator, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

2015-2017 Young researcher of CEPLAS (Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science), Düsseldorf, Germany

2013-2021 Lecture, Key Laboratory of Systems Biology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China

2011-2013 Postdoc, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

2010-2011 Postdoc, Department de Biologie Moléculaire Végétale, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

2006-2009 Ph.D in Cell and Molecular biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

2002-2005 M.S. in Botany, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China

1998-2002 B.S. in Bioscience, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China

Research Work

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is an annual dicotyledonous plant of the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae). It is also a natural halophyte and was domesticated in the Andean region of South America 5000 to 7000 years ago. Due to historical reasons, quinoa is a food crop that has not been fully domesticated and utilized to the same extent as other staple crops for global food and agriculture such as wheat, maize, or rice. It has attracted global growing interest due to its unique nutritional value and strong tolerance to drought, salt, and low temperatures. Quinoa is expected to play an important role in eradicating hunger, malnutrition and poverty. Our research focuses on the following three themes:

1) Cross-breeding of quinoa.

2) Creation of new quinoa germplasm through interspecific hybridization.

3) Participatory quinoa breeding of China, demonstration and promotion of planting.

Main Achievements

Our research group has participated in the registration of thirteen new quinoa varieties.

Publications

1. Huanan Han, Yusen Qu, Yingcan Wang, Zaijie Zhang, Yuhu Geng, Yuanyuan Li, Qun Shao, Hui Zhang, Changle Ma* (2023) Transcriptome and small RNA sequencing reveals the basis of response to salinity, alkalinity and hypertonia in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.). International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(14):11789.

 

2. Leiting Li, Jingjing Song, Meiling Zhang, Shahid Iqbal, Yuanyuan Li, Heng Zhang*, Hui Zhang* (2023) A near complete genome assembly of chia assists in identification of key fatty acid desaturases in developing seeds. Frontiers in Plant Science, 14:1102715.

 

3. Ling Zheng, Yiwu Zhao, Yifeng Gan, Hao Li, Shiqi Luo, Xiang Liu, Yuanyuan Li, Qun Shao, Hui Zhang, Yanxiu Zhao*, Changle Ma* (2022) Full-length transcriptome sequencing reveals the impact of cold stress on alternative splicing in quinoa. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(10): 5724.

 

4. Muhammad Bilal Hafeez, Shahid Iqbal, Yuanyuan Li*, Muhammad Sohail Saddiq, Shahzad M. A. Basra, Hui Zhang, Noreen Zahra, Muhammad Z. Akram, Daniel Bertero, Ramiro N. Curti* (2022) Assessment of phenotypic diversity in the USDA collection of quinoa links genotypic adaptation to germplasm origin. Plants,11(6): 738.

 

5. Heng Zhang*, Yuanyuan Li, Jian-Kang Zhu* (2018) Developing naturally stress-resistant crops for a sustainable agriculture. Nature Plants, 4: 989-996.

 

6. Yuanyuan Li, David Heckmann, Martin J Lercher, Veronica G Maurino* (2016) Combining genetic and evolutionary engineering to establish C4 metabolism in C3 plants. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 68(2): 117-125

 

7. Jiajia Xu, Andrea Br？utigam, Yuanyuan Li, Andreas P. M. Weber, Xin-Guang Zhu* (2016) Systems analysis of cis-regulatory motifs in C4 photosynthesis genes using maize and rice leaf transcriptomics data during a process of de-etiolation. Journal of Experimental Botany, 67(17): 5105–5117

8. Yuanyuan Li*, Xiuling Ma, Jialei Zhao, Jiajia Xu, Junfeng Shi, Xin-Guang Zhu, Yanxiu Zhao, Hui Zhang (2015) Developmental genetic mechanisms of C4 syndrome based on transcriptome analysis of C3 cotyledons and C4 assimilating shoots in Haloxylon ammodendron, PLoS ONE, 10(7): e0117175

9. Yuanyuan Li, Jiajia Xu, Noor UI Haq, Hui Zhang, Xin-Guang Zhu* (2014) Was low CO2 a driving force of C4 evolution: Arabidopsis responses to long-term low CO2 stress. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 65(13): 3657-3667

 

10. Ghazanfar Abbas Khan, Samir Bouraine, Yuanyuan Li, Matthieu de Carbonnel, Pierre Berthomieu, Yves Poirier*, Hatem Rouached* (2014) Coordination between zinc and phosphate homeostasis involves the transcription factor PHR1, the phosphate exporter PHO1 and its homologue PHO1;H3 in Arabidopsis. The Journal of Experimental Botany, 65(3): 871-884

 

11. Jiajia Xu^#, Yuanyuan Li^#, Xiuling Ma, Jianfeng Ding, Kai Wang, Sisi Wang, Ye Tian, Hui Zhang, Xin-Guang Zhu* (2013) Whole transcriptome analysis using next-generation sequencing of model species Setaira viridis to support C4 photosynthesis research. Plant Molecular Biology, 83(1-2): 77-87 (^#co-first author)

 

12. Fan Lai, Jennifer Thacker, Yuanyuan Li, Peter Doerner* (2007) Cell division activity determines the magnitude of phosphate starvation responses in Arabidopsis The Plant Journal, 50(3): 545-556