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Meet the Faculty

Zhanyuan Zhang

Zhanyuan Zhang
Research Associate Professor
Division of Plant Sciences

Education
B.S., Plant Protection, Shenyang Agriculture University
M.S., Plant Protection, Shanxi Agriculture University
Ph.D., Plant Genetic Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Description
The primary research goal in Zhanyuan Zhang’s laboratory is to develop cutting-edge transgene technologies for soybean (Glycine max) and maize (Zea mays) and biofuel crops. His research focus is on developing high-throughput transformation processes for soybean, maize and switchgrass and efficient gene regulation in complex genome such as soybean. He is also interested in soybean functional genomics employing reverse genetics tools.

His current research falls into three major areas:

Improvement of Transformation System
Improvement of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of soybean (Glycine max) and maize (Zea mays) and switchgrass is his team's continuous endeavor. This research area includes the improvement of T-DNA integration efficiency and quality. The success in soybean transformation will make it possible to produce a large number of transgenic soybean lines through transformation-based mutagenesis or RNAi, for the discovery of a huge number of soybean genes, and it will accelerate soybean engineering efforts. Transformation of maize inbred lines is highly desirable but has been very inefficient worldwide. Therefore, it is essential to develop efficient maize inbred transformation systems using a simple binary vector system. Although success in switchgrass transformation has been reported elsewhere, an efficient transformation of this crop via Agrobacterium remains challenging.

Efficient RNAi for Gene Regulation
Efficient gene regulation in complex genome background, such as soybean, represents a new challenge in transgene technology. RNAi technology has been shown to be a powerful tool to accomplish this goal. Zhang's current focus is on design and implement of efficient RNAi in soybean. His lab is now exploring several strategies in improving the efficacy of RNAi in this crop. The experience and lessons they learn from down-regulation of several important soybean genes should be applicable for regulation of other genes in soybean. In addition, transgenic soybean lines developed in these studies can be used as breeding materials for soybean trait improvement.

Functional Genomics
Transposon mutagenesis has been demonstrated to have a great utility in tagging genes in the plant genome. Zhang is now actively collaborating on this project with several other institutions. The research project goal is to tag a large number of soybean genes with special interest in seed traits. Tagged genes will be mapped to the soybean physical map. Mutant soybean lines and genes whose functions are identified in this study will be a good resource for the soybean research community.