The Li Lab

The Li Lab
Dr. Li's group as of spring 2004
From left to right: Zhongxin Guo (Ph.D. student), Jinhuan Chen (MS student), Dr. Chuanyou Li, Jing Qi (Ph.D. student), Wenguang Zheng (Ph.D. student), Fang Liu (Ph.D. student) and Lei Zhang (M.S. student).

Our laboratory is mainly interested in jasmonic acid (JA) signaling and regulation of JA-mediated plant responses to insects.

Genetic dissection of the JA signaling pathway
The fatty acid-derived plant hormone JA plays a key role in the regulation of development, reproduction and systemic induced resistance to herbivore attack. Compared to the five classic plant hormones, relatively little is known about the molecular mechanisms governing the JA action, especially in the area of JA-mediated defense responses to insects. Using tomato as a genetic model, we have been able to identify several mutants that are deficient in systemic defense responses. Interestingly, map-based cloning of these mutants identified genes that are involved in JA biosynthesis and signaling. Grafting experiments using a JA biosynthesis mutant (spr2) and a JA signaling mutant (jai1) demonstrated that JA or a derivative, rather than the 18-amino-acid peptide systemin is the long-distance mobile "wound signal" for systemic defense responses and that the biosynthesis of JA is regulated by systemin. A long-term goal of our research is to identify most, if not all, of the genes that are involved in systemin/JA-mediated wound response pathway and elucidate how these genes are regulated.

Identification of agriculturally important genes in rice and tomato
Another aspect of our research is to identify agriculturally important genes in the model system of rice and tomato, using a map-based cloning approach.

Selected Publications:
  1. Li C, Liu G, Xu C, Lee G, Bauer P, Ganal M, Ling, H and Howe GA (2003) The tomato Suppressor of prosystemin-mediated response2 gene encodes a fatty acid desaturase required for the biosynthesis of jasmonic acid and the production of a systemic wound signal for defense gene expression. The Plant Cell. 15, 1646-1661
  2. Li L, Li C, Lee GI and Howe GA (2002) Distinct roles for jasmonate synthesis and action in the systemic wound response of tomato. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 99, 6416-6421
  3. Li C, Williams MM, Loh Y-T, Lee GI and Howe GA (2002) Resistance of cultivated tomato to cell content-feeding herbivores is regulated by the octadecanoid-signaling pathway. Plant Physiology. 130, 494-503
  4. Li L, Li C and Howe GA (2001) Genetic analysis of wound signaling in tomato: evidence for a dual role of jasmonic acid in defense and female fertility. Plant Physiology 127, 1414-1417
  5. Howe GA, Li L, Lee GI, Li C and Shaffer D (2002) Genetic dissection of induced resistance in tomato. In, "Induced resistance in plants against insects and diseases". A. Schmitt & B. Mauch-Mani, Eds. Vol. 26, pp.47-52
  6. Jia J, Zhang D, Li C, Qu X, Wang S, Chamarerk V, Nguyen HT and Wang B (2001) Molecular mapping of a rice thermo-sensitive genic male sterile gene using AFLP, RFLP and SSR techniques. Theor Appl Genet 103, 607-612

For more information, please visit Dr. Li's web page at http://www.genetics.ac.cn/xywwz/Faculty/LiChuanyou.htm.


Chuanyou Li
Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology,
5 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
Tel: 8610-64865313
Fax: 8610-64873428