Prof. Wei Huang 

Affiliation and Address:

College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University,Guangzhou, Guangdong 510642, China
E-mail: weihuang@scau.edu.cn

Education

Ph.D., The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China, 2009.

M.S., Lanzhou University, 2004.

B.S., Lanzhou University, 2001.

Professional Biography

Oct.2014-Present, Professor, South China Agricultural University.

Research: Investigating the regulatory network of the key clock genes in crop.

Sep.2009-Dec.2013, Post-doctoral Fellow, Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics CSIC IRTA UAB Edifici CRAG. Barcelona,Spain.

Research: Studying the regulatory networks and the functional modules underlying the circadian clock function.

Principle Investigator: Dr. Paloma Más Martínez

Sep.2004-May.2009, Research training for Ph.D. degree, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, The Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Thesis: Functional analysis of a rice QTL GW2 for grain width and weight  

Advisor: Dr. Hong-Xuan Lin

Research Interests

The circadian clock is a self-sustaining 24-h timekeeper which enables plants to anticipate periodic environmental changes and optimize the biological activities to most beneficial time during the diurnal cycle. As in many organisms, the sustained circadian rhythmicity in plant relies on network of transcriptional/translational feedback loops (TTFLs) of transcription factors at the core of the oscillator. It has been shown that circadian clock is highly relevant to crop productivity. On the basis of the expertise in clock and crop knowledge, we are using a combination of field test, molecular genetics, bioinformatics approaches, statistical analysis and new cutting-edge sequencing technologies to decipher the molecular mechanisms of the key clock genes in crop. This study will explore the genetic underling mechanism governed by the circadian clock and profoundly affects the adaptation of crop to different environments. Ultimately, this work will significantly advance our current understanding in the field of crop improvement.

Area of Expertise

Circadian Clock ;Clock Gene; Central Oscillator; Circadian Rhythm

Selected Publications

1.Huang,W., Pérez-García, P., Pokhilko, A., Millar, A.J., Antoshechkin, I.,Riechmann ,J.L., Mas, P. (2012) Mapping the Core of the Arabidopsis Circadian Clock Defines the Network Structure of the Oscillator.Science. 2012 Apr 6; 336(6077):75-79 (Featured in: Selected by the Faculty of 1000(F1000) – Rating: Exceptional [10].)

2.Song, X.J.*, Huang, W.*, Shi, M., Zhu, M.Z., Lin, H.X. (2007) A QTL for rice grain width and weight encodes a previously unknown RING-type E3 ubiquitinligase. Nature Genetics 39(5): 623–630. (* Contributed equally).

3.Jin, J., Huang, W., Gao, J.P., Yang, J., Shi, M., Zhu, M.Z., Luo, D., Lin, H.X. (2008) Genetic control of rice plant architecture under domestication. Nature Genetics 40(11): 1365-1369.

4.Ren, Z.H., Gao, J.P., Li, L.G., Cai, X.L., Huang,W., Chao,D.Y., Zhu,M.Z., Wang, Z.Y., Luan,S., Lin,H.X. (2005) A rice quantitative trait locus for salt tolerance encodes a sodium transporter. Nature Genetics 37(10): 1141 – 1146.

5.Qi,P., Lin,Y.S., Song,X.J., Shen,J.B., Huang,W., Shan, J.X., Zhu,M.Z., Jiang,L., Gao, J.P., Lin,H.X. ( 2012) The novel quantitative trait locus GL3.1 controls rice grain size and yield by regulating Cyclin-T1;3. Cell Research 22:1666–1680