Pingfang Yang

Biography

Education and Appointments： 1997 B.A., Northwest Sci-Tech University of Agriculture and Forestry, Shannxi, China, Economic Forestry 2002 M.S. Huazhong Agriculture University, Wuhan, China, Plant Embryology 2006 Ph.D. Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, plant proteomics 2007, 2005 -11, 2005 Research Assistant, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. 2011, 2005 - 02, 2007 Visiting Scholar, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong. 2003, 2007 - 12, 2009 Postdoc., DOE-Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.

Research Interest

Research Interest： 1. Molecular mechanism of Seed dormancy and germination: Plants reproduce their progenies mainly through the seeds. Seed germination, which is defined as the process that the mature seeds sense and transduct the suitable environmental factors like light, temperature and humidity, absorb the water quickly, activate a series of biochemical pathways and then emerge out of the capsule, is one of the important physiological processes in the life cycle of plants. This process is highly controlled by exogenous as well as endogenous factors. To understand how the seeds sense and transduct the exogenous signals, we will apply the proteomic strategy to identify the protein components that are involved in the signal transduction during the seed germination. Exploring the mechanism of seed germination will contribute a lot in solving the problems in both resource plant reproduction and agricultural production. 2. Proteomics of plant sexual reproduction: After the vegetative growth, plants enter into the sexual growth period in which the flowers are developed. The development and maturation of microsporophyte and megasporophyte and their physiological status are critical for the success of the sexual reproduction. Stigma is the site where reception and recognition of pollens happen. The interaction and recognition between stigma and pollens are intermediated by a series of signal transduction. Aiming at exploring the mechanism of recognition, our group applies the proteomic strategy to study the proteome pattern of the mature stigma and its changes during this process. The identification of the functional important proteins will deepen our understanding of the sexual reproduction mechanism in the plant kingdom.