A University of Mississippi biology professor’s research that examines challenges facing crop productivity caused by global climate change is attracting attention.

Yongjian Qiu, an assistant professor of biology, is studying a plant gene that could help solve a problem caused by warming global temperatures in which a plant stem grows too fast, damaging the plant’s biomass and leading to severe crop reductions.

Qiu’s work in this field is the subject of a new Nature Communications paper, Qiu’s first scientific journal paper as a main author while at UM. Graduate student Abhishesh Bajracharya, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in biological science at UM, serves as a co-author on the paper, which was released April 6.

“As a young UM faculty member, this paper means a lot to me,” said Qiu, who joined the faculty in 2019. “I’m excited and more confident with my career at UM. It proves that I’m competent in accomplishing a research project with good quality and makes me more confident when carrying out the other exciting research projects in my laboratory.”

Increases in global temperatures due to climate change are expected to drastically reduce crop productivity, so understanding the mechanism of temperature signaling in plants has become important for devising strategies to sustain crop production in a changing climate.

The Qiu Laboratory at the university is searching for an understanding of the mechanism by which external and internal signals, including temperature fluctuations, co-regulate plant growth and development to improve the functional traits of economic crops.

“When the department interviewed Dr. Qiu, it was his research aimed at exploring biological solutions to coming agricultural challenges associated with climate change that really grabbed our attention,” said Brice Noonan, acting department chair and associate professor of biology. “To see him so quickly bring to publication a study that reveals a novel gene influencing plant growth – and crop yield – is quite exciting.

“Dr. Qiu’s research program has continued to churn along through the pandemic, and I’m eager to see what the future holds for his research program.”

Understanding Stem Growth

Part of the lab’s research is examining the plant gene PIF4, which is a key link in promoting stem extension in various plant species, including economically important crops. The excessive lengthening of stems in certain plants also can cause the stem to bend, leading to nutrient loss, which also affects crop productivity.

“Understanding at the molecular level how this gene is produced and maintained in plant cells is central to finding the solution to solving the problem with stem growth and yield loss,” Qiu said.

“The study we just published found a novel protein called RCB that helps to stabilize the PIF4 protein when plants are facing temperature elevations. Therefore, we are one step further in understanding how global warming affects plant growth through the central regulator PIF4.”

Qiu’s examination of this issue began when he was an assistant project scientist at the University of California at Riverside, working in plant biology professor Meng Chen’s laboratory. Qiu’s postdoctoral research focused on how light and temperature signals regulate plant growth and development, and in 2019 he published his first paper on plant structural changes under warm temperatures – called thermomorphogenesis – in Nature Communications.

“The universal thermomorphogenetic mechanism shared by many plant species, once identified, would help us and other scientists design climate-smart crops that may sustain their biomass and grain yield when facing temperature fluctuations,” Qiu said.

His research helped him discover a novel function of a protein called HEMERA involved in thermomorphogenesis that regulates the stability and activity of the PIF4 protein.

“The absence of HEMERA’s function in a plant would lead to a growth defect in the short stem at warmer temperatures,” Qiu said. “Since then, I realized the importance of PIF4 and got interested in unveiling the entire pathway underlying the regulation of PIF4 level and activity when plants face temperature fluctuations.”

Qiu and Bajracharya’s Nature Communications paper continues an exploration of how the RCB protein and the novel function of the HEMERA protein involved in thermomorphogenesis interact with PIF4. They are still searching for how that interaction is achieved to regulate the stability and activity of PIF4.

The full title of the paper is “RCB initiates Arabidopsis thermomorphogenesis by stabilizing the thermoregulator PIF4 in the daytime.” Joining Qiu and Bajracharya as authors are members of the Institute for Integrative Genome Biology at the University of California at Riverside.

“I’m thankful to my postdoctoral adviser and his team for their contributions and efforts in pushing this publication,” Qiu said. “But at the same time, I also truly appreciate the support from the Department of Biology, College of Liberal Arts and UM.

“The work would not be accomplished without the initial start-up funding, the renovation of my new laboratory and the assistance from the previous and current chairs, staff and colleagues in my home department.”

Forging a Plant Path

Qiu received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China, a leading Chinese research university. Working on his undergraduate thesis in his junior year, he joined a plant molecular biology lab that focused on plant resistance against a variety of stresses, such as drought, salt and oxidative stresses.

“That was my first contact with plant physiology and molecular biology, and immediately I fell in love with it,” Qiu said.

“I learned that as immobile organisms, plants need to develop complex systems to cope with the ever-changing environment, and I realized that understanding how plants sense and respond to each environmental stimulus is the key to solving some critical agricultural issues we humans are facing in the 21st century.”

After receiving his doctorate in plant science at Washington State University, Qiu worked as a postdoctoral associate at Duke University and at the University of California at Riverside before joining the Ole Miss faculty.

Qiu said he was drawn to the Department of Biology because of its open and collaborative work environment for new faculty members. He also chose UM because of the diversity of research backgrounds among its biology faculty, covering fields such as cellular and molecular biology, evolution, ecology and more.

“This is the biology department I prefer because I believe the interactions between scientists with different backgrounds will foster innovative research that has the potential to solve the most important scientific questions,” he said. “I feel very comfortable talking with my peers and discussing research topics with them.”

Since joining UM, Qiu has involved more than a dozen Ole Miss students in his research endeavors. This semester, two graduate students and eight undergraduates are working as research assistants in his lab.

When working with students, Qiu remembers his beginnings in plant biology and the mentorship of those who assisted him along his journey as he helps train the next generation of scientists. He also is guided by his belief that science and technology are the essential driving forces for human survival and progress.

“Although some of them may not stay in academia, I hope that their research experiences in my laboratory would help them look at the world in a little different way,” Qiu said. “We scientists should communicate and collaborate to solve hard questions and improve our understanding of nature as well as help our civilization last as long as possible.”

Lainy Day, an associate professor of biology at the University of Mississippi and director of the university’s neuroscience minor, has published an article in Nature, an international journal that publishes the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology.

Part of an international team, Day has helped unlock essential new information about the evolution of birds, known as avian evolution. The breakthrough research brings critical new data that will ultimately help with species preservation.

This research initiative is part of the BK10 project, which seeks to collect genomes, sets of genetic instructions, from all existing bird species on Earth. The project’s initiative has resulted in the world’s largest database of bird genomes.

The research reported in Nature includes 363 bird species, 267 sequenced for the first time. This amounts to representative species for 92% of all avian families.

“By examining multiple lineages and noting genes that diverge among specific lineages, we may discover, for example, the genes contributing to loss of flight in ostriches, or those that allow a songbird to trill beautiful notes in contrast to the deafening call of the rooster,” Day said. “We want to know how particular genes allow for trait evolution.”

The research published in Nature has been featured on a BBC podcast; on the website of Cosmos, a quarterly news magazine; and in an article distributed by the United Press International news service.

Day, who joined the Ole Miss faculty in 2006, become involved in this research via the Manakin Genomics Research Collaborative Network, initiated by herself and five other core researchers and supported by a $500,000 grant they secured from the National Science Foundation. Members of the BK10 project and the Manakin Network then recruited other scientists worldwide to sequence avian genomes from DNA samples collected in the wild or in aviaries.

Day’s research focuses on 13 of the 50 species of the manakin family of birds, which live in tropical areas across the Americas. For this initiative, she contributed DNA samples from one of the two species of manakins represented in the Nature manuscript.

The genome was sequenced from tissue samples of the golden-collared manakin that Day collected in Panama when she was doing research in collaboration with the University of California at Los Angeles.

Preserved in a freezer at -80 degrees Celsius, samples such as these are critical to her research. Day’s focal research seeks to understand the genetic language that shapes complex behavior and drives brain evolution.

Manakins are ideal for these studies, as males use complex acrobatic mating displays punctuated by loud wing sounds to attract mates. In separate research, Day has shown that female fancy for complexity in displays has driven increased brain size in manakins.

“As we begin to sequence genomes for each of the species I work with, we come to understand the formula for creating athletic prowess,” she said. The BK10 project aims to share these manakin genomes and those of all birds with the world.

“The database the BK10 project has created is far larger than any others,” she said. “Scientists have been looking at fewer genomes in depth. With this manuscript and continuing work of the Manakin Research Collaborative Network and the BK10 project, we provide, for the first time, sufficient genomic data to unlock the mysteries of bird evolution as well as fundamental principles of evolution.”

Brice Noonan, associate professor and acting chair of the Department of Biology, called Day’s work critical to “understanding the evolution of complex avian behavior. Its link to neurological development has long been recognized,” he said.

“This most recent publication of Dr. Day and her collaborators makes significant strides toward a better understanding of the genetic underpinnings of evolutionary change that is sure to set the stage for not only her research, but that of evolutionary biologists the world over.”

To read the report in Nature, click here.

The history and variety of vaccines – including the recent development of vaccines for COVID-19 – is the topic for a virtual Oxford Science Cafe scheduled for Jan. 19 by University of Mississippi faculty researchers.

The virtual Oxford Science Cafe program will be hosted on Zoom beginning at 6 p.m. Wayne Gray, instructional assistant professor of biology, will discuss “Understanding Vaccines: Preventing Diseases from Smallpox to COVID-19.”

“Vaccines are a miracle of modern medicine,” Gray said. “These days, everyone is talking about vaccines and hoping for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Questions to be addressed during the 45-minute webcast include: How do they work to prevent disease? How safe are vaccines, and why do some people have concerns about vaccines? What is herd immunity? What are the various types of vaccines?

“We’ll review the history of vaccines and discuss several of the more than 20 vaccines that are now routinely given to children and adults,” Gray said. “Finally, we’ll examine the current COVID-19 vaccines and consider their effectiveness and safety.

“Issues regarding COVID-19 vaccine distribution will be discussed.”

To view the Science Cafe, go to https://olemiss.zoom.us/j/97568315885.