Yongfu Tao Lab focuses on genetic breeding of sorghum as its main research direction. Sorghum is known for its drought resistance, heat tolerance, salinity and alkalinity tolerance, and adaptability to poor soils, making it an excellent "pioneer" for marginal lands. Exploring genes related to sorghum's resistance to environmental stress and understanding their molecular mechanisms is crucial for breeding stress-resistant varieties and ensuring food security.
In the preliminary stage, the research group collected a wild sorghum NAM population and a natural population of over a thousand samples. The aim is to utilize these germplasm resources to dissect the genetic basis of sorghum's adaptation to environmental stress using multi-omics approache. The group seeks to identify excellent genes related to sorghum's high yield and stress resistance and investigate the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying sorghum's high yield and response to environmental stress.
The research group has 8 personnel ,including 1 PI , 3 Postdoc, 2 Support and Management Staff , 1 MSc student.
Zhan Xu
Dr. Zhan Xu,B.S. from Guangxi University, Ph. D. from Yangzhou University, Postdoc from CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (Chinese Academy of Sciences). Focusing on the regulatory pathways or key regulators of important phenotypes, exploring broader biological meaning through the phenotype integration in rice, which will accurately guide the genetic breeding of rice and other crops. Published papers as the first or sole author: Nucleic Acids Research (2023); Plant Communications (2023); Advanced Biology (2023); Plant Journal (2020; 2018).
Ruixue Xiao
Yanbo Wang
Lei Gao
Ruixue Xiao received her PhD from Beijing Forestry University in 2023. As first author in Plant, Cell and Environment (2023), Molecular Biology Reports (2022), International Journal of Molecular Science (2021) and other journals published 6 SCI papers, 2 collaborative papers, and one patent. From 2017 to 2022, she won eight awards such as university-level scholarship, postgraduate National Scholarship and academic Innovation Award. Familiar with many molecular biology experiment techniques such as western and laser confocal.
Yanbo Wang obtained a Ph.D. degree in Crop Genetics and Breeding from Beijing University of Science and Technology in the year 2023.During postdoctoral research, primarily involved in the genetic exploration of the high-yielding and high-quality traits in forage sorghum. Through genetic and population genetics studies, combined with transcriptomics and molecular biology approaches, unravel the genetic basis of high-yielding and high-quality traits in sorghum, identify beneficial genes, and thereby guide the breeding of high-yielding and stress-resistant sorghum varieties.
Dr. Lei Gao received his PhD degree from China Agricultural University in November 2023, and joined AGIS in December 2023 as a postdoctoral researcher. His emphasis is on understanding the molecular mechanism of maize cold tolerance. Currently, his research focuses on mining the candidate genes that control sorghum cold tolerance, and exploring the genetic basis of cold adaptation of sorghum.
Wenhui Zou
Zixun Wang
Yinzi Wang