February 27, 2024
Xuemin Wang to present Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Seminar
Submitted by Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Xueming "Sam" Wang, professor of plant sciences at University of Missouri — St. Louis and principal investigator at Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, will be the featured speaker for this week's Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Seminar. Wang will present "Understanding Microbial Communities for Food Safety and Food Quality" at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28, in Room 120 of Ackert Hall.
Presentation abstract: Environmental stress adversely impacts plant growth and crop production. How are stress cues transduced into metabolic and growth alterations? Our studies show that membrane lipids are rich sources for generating messengers that connect stress perception to metabolic and physiological responses. Integrating various research strategies, such as lipid-protein interactomes, multiplex genome editing, and in vivo lipid imaging, we have identified lipid-signaling cascades involved in plant responses to changing environments, including water availability, high salinity, N/P deficiency, and circadian oscillation. Phosphatidic acid has emerged as a class of key cellular mediators modulating plant metabolism, growth and stress responses. Targeted manipulations of the lipid-signaling processes have potential to improve vegetable oil production and crop resilience to stress conditions.