课题组简介：

本课题组以模式植物拟南芥、农作物水稻和大豆为研究对象，综合利用遗传学、生物化学与分子生物学、表观遗传学等手段，研究植物营养信号的感知、传递与调控网络，挖掘作物营养高效和耐逆的遗传位点，并利用基因编辑等生物育种手段提高作物的产量、品质和耐逆性。

课题组首次发现多磷酸肌醇InsP8是植物细胞内的磷信号分子（Dong et al., Molecular Plant, 2019），并解析了其感受机制（Zhou et al., Nature Communications, 2021）；揭示根系发育转录因子SHR通过稳定木质部磷装载关键因子PHO1，调控磷在根与地上部之间的分配（Xiao et al., Nature Plants, 2022）；发现番茄通过顺式天然反义转录（cis-NAT）调控基因多聚腺苷酸化响应磷饥饿的新机制（Ge et al., Nature Communications, 2025）；鉴定出去泛素化酶UCH2通过去除组蛋白变体H2A.Z的泛素化修饰、促进H2A.Z从磷饥饿响应基因启动子上移除，从而激活基因表达的新机制（Meng et al., Nature Communications, 2026）。

课题组主持多个国家级、省部级科研项目，并获得国家和学校人才项目的支持，取得了一系列国际领先的研究成果。以第一作者或通讯作者在Nature Plants、Nature Communications、Molecular Plant、Molecular Cell、PNAS等国际重要学术期刊上发表了多篇高水平学术论文。

课题组负责人：雷明光

课题组成员：

教师：董劲松、马国杰

博士后：葛圣红

硕士生：吕秋雨、向宇丹、谭诗美、卢宪伟、陈浩、郭凤晓、任曦

博士生：李威、倪晓丽

联培博士生：孟凡孝、李小强、Abdul Wahab、张珂、肖梦岚、邓孟磊

主要研究方向：

植物分子营养学：研究植物磷信号感受机制、信号转导和调控网络，以及植物低磷响应的表观遗传学机制，挖掘优异基因资源，培育磷高效吸收和利用的农作物。

农作物生物育种：开发基因编辑新技术和新方法，创制农作物新种质，提高农作物的产量和品质、抗逆性和资源利用效率

代表性论著（^#一作，*通讯作者）

1. Meng F^#, Xiao X^#, Ma G^#, Satheesh V, Wu Q, Zhao Y, Chen H, Lu X, Jiang J, Lei M^*. A ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase facilitates H2A.Z removal in response to phosphate starvation. Nat Commun. 2026, doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77882-6

2. Tan S^#, Xiang Y^#, Soltani A, Lei M^*. Molecular basis of quinoa's resilience to abiotic stresses: implications for climate-adaptive crop breeding. Front Plant Sci. 2026 Jul 8;17:1865530.

3. Lv Q, Soltani A, Lei M^*, Ma G^*. Autophagy in plants: molecular mechanisms and roles in abiotic stress responses. Front Plant Sci. 2026 Jun 18;17:1861141.

4. Dong J^#, Zhang K^#, Song M, Xiao M, Lu X, Ge S, Zheng Z, Li M, Zhu JK, Lei M^*. CRISPR-mediated intronic knock-in of pre-amiRNA enables targeted gene silencing. Plant Commun. 2026 Sep 14;7(9):101916.

5. Ge S, Yuan K, Lei M^*. The SPX protein family in plants: from phosphate sensors to multifunctional signaling hubs. Stress Biol. 2026 May 8;6(1):36.

6. Ge S, Chen K, Guo F, Xiao M, Lv Q, An GY, Dong J, Lei M^*. Decoupling low phytic acid from growth penalties by targeting PHR1/PHL1 in Arabidopsis. Plant Biol. 2026 Jun 15.

7. Ge S^#, Li J^#, Ma H^#, Sánchez-Bermúdez M, Wu S, Lv Q, Guo F, Dong J, Ma G, Li QQ^*, Satheesh V^*, Lei M^*. A cis-natural antisense RNA regulates alternative polyadenylation of SlSPX5 under Pi starvation in tomato. Nat Commun. 2025, 16:7981.

8. Ge S^#, Xiao X^#, Zhang K, Yang C, Dong J, Chen K, Lv Q, Satheesh V, Lei M^*. A plastidial lipoyl synthase LIP1p plays a crucial role in phosphate homeostasis in Arabidopsis. Plant J. 2024, 120(6):2385-2397.

9. Dong C^#, Xi Y^#, Satheesh V, Lei M^*. Advances in CRISPR/Cas technologies and their application in plants. Tropical Plants. 2023, 2:2.

10. Satheesh V, Wahab A, Ramakrishnan M, Lei M^*. Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Phosphate Sensing and Signalling in Plants. In: Rouached H, Satbhai SB (eds) Plant Phosphorus Nutrition (1st ed.). CRC Press. 2023, 18-29.

11. Zhou X^#, Wei M^#, Nie W, Xi Y, Li P, Zheng Q, Tang K, Satheesh V, Wang Y, Luo J, Du X, Liu R, Yang Z, La H, Zhong Y, Yang Y, Zhu JK, Du J, Lei M*. The H3K9me2-binding protein AGDP3 limits DNA methylation and transcriptional gene silencing in Arabidopsis. J Integr Plant Biol. 2022, 64(12):2385-2395.

12. Xiao X^#, Zhang J^#, Satheesh V, Meng F, Gao W, Dong J, Zheng Z, An GY, Nussaume L, Liu D, Lei M*. SHORT-ROOT stabilizes PHOSPHATE1 to regulate phosphate allocation in Arabidopsis. Nat Plants. 2022, 8:1074-1081.

13. Ma G, Satheesh V, Lei M*. Intracellular phosphate sensing in plants. Mol Plant. 2022 Dec 5;15(12):1831-1833.

14. Li T^#, Zhang R^#, Satheesh V, Wang P, Ma G, Guo J, An GY, Lei M*. The Chromatin Remodeler BRAHMA Recruits HISTONE DEACETYLASE6 to Regulate Root Growth Inhibition in Response to Phosphate Starvation in Arabidopsis. J Integr Plant Biol. 2022, 64(12):2314-2326

15. Xiao X, Meng F, Satheesh V, Xi Y, Lei M*. An Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression method contributes to functional analysis of a transcription factor and potential application of gene editing in Chenopodium quinoa. Plant Cell Rep. 2022, 41:1975-1985.

16. Satheesh V^#, Zhang J^#, Li J, You Q, Zhao P, Wang P, Lei M*. High transcriptome plasticity drives phosphate starvation responses in tomato. Stress Biol. 2022, 2:18.

17. Satheesh V, Tahir A, Li J, Lei M*. Plant phosphate nutrition: sensing the stress. Stress Biol. 2022, 2:16.

18. Zhou J^#, Hu Q^#, Xiao X, Yao D, Ge S, Ye J, Li H, Cai R, Liu R, Meng F, Wang C, Zhu JK, Lei M^*, Xing W^*. Mechanism of phosphate sensing and signaling revealed by rice SPX1-PHR2 complex structure. Nat Commun. 2021, 12:7040.

19. Satheesh V., Li J., Lei M^*. Efficient CRISPR-Cas9-Mediated Genome Editing in Tomato. In: Islam M.T., Molla K.A. (eds) CRISPR-Cas Methods. Springer Protocols Handbooks. Humana, New York, NY. 2021, 159-177.

20. Dong J^#, Ma G^#, Sui L^#, Wei M, Satheesh V, Zhang R, Ge S, Li J, Zhang TE, Wittwer C, Jessen HJ, Zhang H, An GY, Chao DY, Liu D, Lei M^*. Inositol Pyrophosphate InsP8 Acts as an Intracellular Phosphate Signal in Arabidopsis. Mol Plant. 2019, 12:1463-1473.

21. Nie WF^#, Lei M^#, Zhang M, Tang K, Huang H, Zhang C, Miki D, Liu P, Yang Y, Wang X, Zhang H, Lang Z, Liu N, Xu X, Yelagandula R, Zhang H, Wang Z, Chai X, Andreucci A, Yu JQ, Berger F, Lozano-Duran R, Zhu JK^*. Histone acetylation recruits the SWR1 complex to regulate active DNA demethylation in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019, 116(33):16641-16650.

22. Satheesh V, Zhang H, Wang X, Lei M^*. Precise editing of plant genomes – Prospects and challenges. Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2019, 96:115-123

23. Xiao X, Zhang J, Li T, Fu X, Satheesh V, Niu Q, Lang Z, Zhu JK^*, Lei M^*. A group of SUVH methyl-DNA binding proteins regulate expression of the DNA demethylase ROS1 in Arabidopsis. J Integr Plant Biol. 2019, 61(2):110-119.

24. Zhao P^*, You Q, Lei M^*. A CRISPR/Cas9 deletion into the phosphate transporter SlPHO1;1 reveals its role in phosphate nutrition of tomato seedlings. Physiol Plant. 2019, 167(4):556-563.

25. Lei M, Zhang H, Julian R, Tang K, Xie S, Zhu JK^*. Regulatory link between DNA methylation and active demethylation in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015,112(11):3553-7.

26. Lang Z^#, Lei M^#, Wang X, Tang K, Miki D, Zhang H, Mangrauthia SK, Liu W, Nie W, Ma G, Yan J, Duan CG, Hsu CC, Wang C, Tao WA, Gong Z, Zhu JK^*. The methyl-CpG-binding protein MBD7 facilitates active DNA demethylation to limit DNA hyper-methylation and transcriptional gene silencing. Mol Cell. 2015, 57(6):971-983.

27. Qian W^#, Miki D^#, Lei M^#, Zhu X, Zhang H, Liu Y, Li Y, Lang Z, Wang J, Tang K, Liu R, Zhu JK^*. Regulation of active DNA demethylation by an α-crystallin domain protein in Arabidopsis. Mol Cell. 2014, 55(3):361-71.

28. Lei M^#, La H^#, Lu K, Wang P, Miki D, Ren Z, Duan CG, Wang X, Tang K, Zeng L, Yang L, Zhang H, Nie W, Liu P, Zhou J, Liu R, Zhong Y, Liu D, Zhu JK^*. Arabidopsis EDM2 promotes IBM1 distal polyadenylation and regulates genome DNA methylation patterns. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014, 111(1):527-32.

29. Lei M, Liu D^*. Sucrose regulates plant responses to deficiencies in multiple nutrients. Plant Signal Behav. 2011,6(8):1247-9. 

30. Lei M, Liu Y, Zhang B, Zhao Y, Wang X, Zhou Y, Raghothama KG, Liu D^*. Genetic and genomic evidence that sucrose is a global regulator of plant responses to phosphate starvation in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 2011,156(3):1116-30. 

31. Lei M, Zhu C, Liu Y, Karthikeyan AS, Bressan RA, Raghothama KG, Liu D^*. Ethylene signalling is involved in regulation of phosphate starvation-induced gene expression and production of acid phosphatases and anthocyanin in Arabidopsis. New Phytol. 2011, 189(4):1084-95.

更新时间2026年9月