Su Jung Park

Title : Development of high yield and stress-tolerant crops via the regulation of splicing patterns of chloroplast genes

Abstract:

Chloroplasts are the most important small organ of plants, play an essential role in adapting to environmental stress as well as plant growth and development. The expression of chloroplast gene is influenced by development and environmental factors after RNA metabolism in chloroplasts, and is mainly regulated at post-processing level. To understand the significance of chloroplast RNA metabolism during stress responses, such as application of DCMU, DBMIB and environmental stresses. We analyzed the splicing patterns of chloroplast introns in cabbage and Arabidopsis under different environmental stress conditions. To determine the importance of splicing of chloroplast introns in stress responses, the cabbage and Arabidopsis chloroplast genes whose intron splicing was affected by environmental stresses were introduced into Arabidopsis, and their functional roles during stress response were determined using the transgenic Arabidopsis plants. The results showed that transgenic plants had increased thermo-tolerance and growth as well as much better seedling growth under normal growth conditions. Taken together, our results suggest that intron splicing of chloroplast transcripts is affected by various environmental factors and that stress-tolerant plants can be developed via the regulation of chloroplast intron splicing. 
Take Away Notes:
• Through this presentation, we will be able to identify the function of chloroplast genes in plants and to control the development of crops under environmental stress by controlling the expression of chloroplast genes.
• If the chloroplast gene expression can be adjusted to increase the productivity and stress resistance of plants, this technology can be applied to various kinds of crops, such as grains and bio-energy crops, to develop crops that are resistant to environmental stress or that have increased yields.
• Research on the chloroplast gene regulation and function of crops worldwide has yet to be done, and the results of studying the chloroplasts of plants could provide important information to researchers studying chloroplasts of plants.

Biography:

Dr. Park studied horticulture at the Chonnam National University, Korea and graduated as MS in 2003. She then joined the research group of Prof. Kang at the Chonnam National University, and studied about plant molecular biology. She received her PhD degree in 2007 at the same institution. After two years postdoctoral fellowship supervised by Dr. Yun at the Gyeongsang National University. And she is currently working as a research professor at the Lab. of Prof. Kang at Chonnam National University, Korea.