A Land Plant-Specific Transcription Factor Directly Enhances Transcription of a Pathogenic Noncoding RNA Template by DNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase II

Author Profile

Ying Wang and Jie Qu

Highlighted Paper: Wang et al et al. (2016). A Land Plant-specific Transcription Factor Directly Enhances Transcription of a Pathogenic Noncoding RNA Template by DNA-dependent RNA Polymerase II. Plant Cell. Advance Publication April 25, 2016; doi:10.1105/tpc.16.00100.

Ying Wang

Current Position: Research Scientist at Department of Molecular Genetics, The Ohio State University, U.S.A.

Education: PhD (2010) in Plant Cellular & Molecular Biology at The Ohio State University, U.S.A.; B.S. (2004) in Life Sciences at Wuhan University, P.R.China.

Non-scientific Interests: Traveling, cooking.

I grew up on the campus of Wuhan University in central China. My family strongly supports my education and career development. When working on my PhD degree in Dr. Biao Ding's lab at The Ohio State University, I became fascinated with the worlds of RNA. In particular, I am dedicated to exploring plant interactions with Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) as well as the evolution and function of regulatory non-coding RNAs in plants. In this collaborative study, we revealed the first eukaryotic transcription factor that directly enhances RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II. We dedicate this work to the memory of our beloved mentor, colleague, and friend, Dr. Biao Ding (1960-2015). I would like to continue exploring the worlds of RNA using the PSTVd model, which was also a dream of Dr. Ding's.

Jie Qu

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher in the Center for Applied Plant Sciences and the Department of Molecular Genetics at The Ohio State University, U.S.A.

Education: PhD (2013) in Horticulture and Crop Science at The Ohio State University, U.S.A.; B.S. (2007) in Biotechnology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, P.R.China.

Non-scientific Interests: Singing, cooking.

I grew up in Jingzhou, along Yangtze River in central China. When I was in middle school biology class, I was amazed by the diversity and complexity of life, from small viruses to multicellular organisms such as plants. When I came to America to pursue my interest in plant biology, I began to look beyond exciting phenomena, and learned to address fundamental questions leading to the understanding of underlying molecular mechanisms. After joining Dr. Biao Ding's lab, I was fascinated by the small "naked" infectious RNA, Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd), which does not encode any protein and has to use plant cellular machineries for its own replication and spreading. In particular, I'm interested in studying how host plant proteins can interact with PSTVd and facilitate its replication, which is described in this collaborative work. The learned knowledge can help us better understand RNA biology. On the other hand, it also provides great potential to fight against this pathogenic RNA that causes devastating loss of crop plants, such as tomatoes and potatoes.