Principal Investigator

Chunzhi Zhang Lab

【字体：大中小】


Chunzhi Zhang
Researcher
Deputy Dean of Agricultural Synthetic Biology Center, AGIS
Ph.D., Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 2014
Keywords: Potato, breeding, diploid, heterosis, self-incompatibility, inbreeding depression, male-sterility, haploid induction
Email: zhangchunzhi01@caas.cn
Research Interest
Potato is the most important tuber crop. In contrast to other cereal crops, potato is a clonally propagated autotetraploid crop. Due to the complexity of tetrasomic inheritance, the improvement of the potato is quite slow. To accelerate the efficiency of potato breeding and decrease the cost of production, we carried out the Upotato Plan (Diploid Hybrid Potato Breeding), aiming to reinvent potato from a tuber-propagated tetraploid crop into an inbred line-based diploid crop propagated by seeds. To achieve this goal, we have established the largest diploid potato GenBank in China, overcame self-incompatibility (Nat Plants, 2018; Nat Commun, 2021), deciphered the genetic basis of inbreeding depression (Nat Genet, 2019), and developed the first generation of pure inbred lines and F1 hybrids (Cell, 2021). In the future, we will focus on: (1) Collection, conservation, evaluation, and innovation of potato germplasm. (2) Exploitation of genes controlling the important agronomic traits of the potato. (3) Deciphering the genetic basis of heterosis in the potato. (4) Development of new breeding techniques. (5) Genome-design of diploid potato hybrids.
Honors and Awards
2020	National Excellent Youth Fund
Selected Publications
1.	Ling Ma#, Chunzhi Zhang#, Bo Zhang#, Fei Tang, Futing Li, Qinggang Liao, Die Tang, Zhen Peng, Yuxin Jia, Meng Gao, Han Guo, Jinzhe Zhang, Xuming Luo, Huiqin Yang, Dongli Gao, William J. Lucas, Canhui Li, Sanwen Huang, Yi Shang*. (2021) A nonS-locusF-box gene breaks self-incompatibility in diploid potatoes. Nature Communications 12: 4142.
2.	Chunzhi Zhang, Zhongmin Yang, Die Tang, Yanhui Zhu, Pei Wang, Dawei Li, Guangtao Zhu, Xingyao Xiong, Yi Shang, Canhui Li, Sanwen Huang*. (2021) Genome design of hybrid potato. Cell 184: 1-11.
3.	Qian Zhou#, Die Tang#, Wu Huang, Zhongmin Yang, Yu Zhang, John P. Hamilton, Richard G.F. Visser, Christian W.B. Bachem, C. Robin Buell, Zhonghua Zhang, Chunzhi Zhang, Sanwen Huang*. (2020) Haplotype-resolved genome analyses of a heterozygous diploid potato. Nature Genetics 52: 1018-1023.
4.	Zhongmin Yang, Shuangshuang Feng, Die Tang, Lidong Zhang, Yumei Li, Philip Kear, Sanwen Huang, Chunzhi Zhang. (2020) The mutation of a PECTATE LYASE-LIKE gene is responsible for the yellow margin phenotype in potato. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 133: 1123-1131.
5.	Zhen Peng, Pei Wang, Die Tang, Yi Shang, Canhui Li, Sanwen Huang, Chunzhi Zhang*. (2019) Inheritance of steroidal glycoalkaloids in potato tuber flesh. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 18: 2255-2263.
6.	Chunzhi Zhang#, Pei Wang#, Die Tang#, Zhongmin Yang, Fei Lu, Jianjian Qi, Nilesh R. Tawari, Yi Shang, Canhui Li, Sanwen Huang*. (2019) The genetic basis of inbreeding depression in potato. Nature Genetics 51: 374-378.
7.	Qun Lian#, Die Tang#, Zhiyan Bai#, Jianjian Qi, Fei Lu, Sanwen Huang, Chunzhi Zhang*. (2018) Acquisition of deleterious mutations during the polyploidization of potato. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology 61: 7-11.
8.	Mingwang Ye#, Zhen Peng#, Die Tang, Zhongmin Yang, Dawei Li, Yunmei Xu, Chunzhi Zhang, Sanwen Huang. (2018) Generation of self-compatible diploid potato by knockout of S-RNase. Nature Plants 4: 651-654.

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Chunzhi Zhang Lab