Circadian and Epigenetic Regulation of Hybrid Vigor

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Z. Jeffrey Chen, Ph.D., D. J. Sibley Centennial Professor in Plant Molecular Genetics, department of molecular biosciences, University of Texas at Austin

Speaker bio(s)

Hybrid vigor or heterosis refers to the offspring that are superior to one or both parents and is widely applied in agriculture to improve crop and animal production. Since Charles Darwin systematically described the phenomenon in 1876, several genetic models (dominance and overdominance) have been debated but cannot adequately explain the molecular basis of heterosis. The Chen Lab hypothesizes that genomic interactions between hybridizing parents induce epigenetic changes that result in altered expression of key regulators and pathways, leading to improved traits in the offspring. In ArabidopsisF1 hybrids and allotetraploids, circadian clock genes are epigenetically altered to increase photosynthetic activities and starch metabolism, promoting growth. Moreover, altered circadian rhythms repress stress-responsive genes in the hybrids as a tradeoff between defense and growth and down-regulate ethylene biosynthesis genes for biomass heterosis. In maize hybrids, clock-protein binding targets are shifted to morning-expressed genes in early activation of photosynthetic and metabolic activities. Notably, circadian rhythms and chromatin modifications are interconnected to regulate gene expression networks. The lab further employs single-cell analysis to study embryo development in Arabidopsis hybrids and polyploids. Understanding circadian and epigenetic regulation of heterosis will ultimately help improve the production of hybrid and polyploid crops for food security, human health, and planet sustainability.

Dr. Chen received his B.S. at Zhejiang Agricultural University, M.S. at Nanjing Agricultural University, and Ph.D. in Genetics at Texas A&M University. Following a postdoctoral position at University of Minnesota and as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, Chen joined the faculty at Texas A&M in 1999, where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2005. He moved to The University of Texas at Austin and became a Full Professor in 2008 in the Department of Molecular Biosciences, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, and Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology. Chen is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2011) and has received an NIH National Research Service Award (1997-1999), Fulbright US-UK Scholar Award (2011), and Cotton Biotechnology Award (2016). Chen is known for his pioneering work on defining genomic and epigenetic changes in plant hybrids and polyploids, with the emphasis on linking gene expression variation with phenotypic traits using Arabidopsis, cotton, and corn as experimental systems.

Open to

Public

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Justin Sloboda

Phone

(212) 327-7785

Sponsor

Justin Sloboda
(212) 327-7785
jsloboda@rockefeller.edu

Readings

https://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/index.php/2019/10/16/recommended-readings-z-jeffrey-chen-ph-d-friday-october-25-2019/