Wei Liu (刘伟), Ph.D.
Title: Professor
Address: Room 602, College of Agriculture,
South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China
Email: wei.liu@scau.edu.cn
RESEARCH INTEREST
The circadian clock enables plants to anticipate daily and seasonal environmental changes, optimizing growth and resource usage. Our work is to investigate two key aspects in rice and soybean: (1) how the clock interacts with protein degradation to regulate daily rhythms, and (2) how it measures daylength to control seasonal responses. By decoding these timing mechanisms and their environmental interactions, we aim to provide insights for breeding crops with improved yield, quality, and climate adaptability.
EDUCATION
2008-2013 Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
2004-2008 B.S. in Biology,
Qufu Normal University, Shandong, China
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
2025-Now Professor,
Collage of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University
2020-2024 Associate Research Scientist,
Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University
2015-2020 Postdoctoral Researcher,
Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University
2013-2015 Postdoctoral Fellow,
School of Life Science, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
AWARDS AND HONORS
2019-2020 Elizabeth D. W. Brown Fund Endowed Fellowship (Yale University)
2017-2019 Forest B. H. Fellowship (Yale University)
PUBLICATIONS
1.Liu, W., Lowrey, H., Leung, C.C., Adamchek, C., Du, J., He, J., Chen, M., and Gendron, J.M. (2024). A circadian clock output functions independently of phyB to sustain daytime PIF3 degradation. PNAS 121 (35) e2408322121.
2.Wang, Q., Liu, W., Leung, C.C., Tarte, D.A., and Gendron, J.M. (2024). Plants distinguish different photoperiods to independently control seasonal flowering and growth. Science 383, eadg9196.
(Highlighted by Buckley and Haydon. Time for Growth. Science 383(6683):589-590)
3.Wang, Y.H., Liu, W., Cheng, J., Li, R.J., Wen, J., Mysore, K.S., Xie, Z.P., Reinhardt, D., and Staehelin, C. (2023). An extracellular β-N-acetylhexosaminidase of Medicago truncatula hydrolyzes chitooligosaccharides and is involved in arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis but not required for nodulation. New Phytol.239, 1954-1973.
4.Sepulveda, C., Guzman, M.A., Li, Q., Villaecija-Aguilar, J.A., Martinez, S.E., Kamran, M., Khosla, A., Liu, W., Gendron, J.M., Gutjahr, C., Waters, M.T., and Nelson, D.C. (2022). KARRIKIN UP-REGULATED F-BOX 1 (KUF1) imposes negative feedback regulation of karrikin and KAI2 ligand metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana. PNAS 119, e2112820119.
5.Liu, W., Feke, A., Leung, C.C., Tarté, D.A., Yuan, W., Vanderwall, M., Sager, G., Wu, X., Schear, A., Clark, D.A., Thines, B.C., and Gendron, J.M. (2021). A metabolic daylength measurement system mediates winter photoperiodism in plants. Dev. Cell 56(17):2501-2515.e5.
6.Gendron, J.M., Leung, C.C., and Liu, W. (2021). Energy as a seasonal signal for growth and reproduction. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol.63, 102092.
(Review paper)
7.Feke, A., Vanderwall, M., Liu, W., and Gendron, J.M. (2021). Functional domain studies uncover novel roles for the ZTL Kelch repeat domain in clock function. PloS One16, e0235938.
8.Liu, W., & Gendron, J.M. (2020). Same Concept Different Outcomes: Sugars Determine Circadian Clock Protein Fate in Animals and Plants. Mol. Plant 13:360–362.
(Comment paper)
9.Feke, A.M., Hong, J., Liu, W., and Gendron, J.M. (2020). A Decoy Library Uncovers U-Box E3 Ubiquitin Ligases That Regulate Flowering Time in Arabidopsis. Genetics.215(3):699–712.
10.He, L., Lei, Y., Li, X., Peng, Q., Liu, W., Jiao, K., Su, S., Hu, Z., Shen, Z., and Luo, D. (2020) Symmetric petals 1 encodes an ALOG domain protein that controls floral organ internal asymmetry in pea (Pisum sativum L.). Int. J. Mol. Sci. 21(11):1–15.
11.Feke, A., Liu, W., Hong, J., Li, M.-W., Lee, C.-M., Zhou, E.K., and Gendron, J.M. (2019). Decoys provide a scalable platform for the identification of plant E3 ubiquitin ligases that regulate circadian function. eLife 8, e44558.
12.Li, X*., Liu, W*., Zhuang, L., Zhu, Y., Wang, F., Chen, T., Yang, J., Ambrose, M., Hu, Z., Weller, J., and Luo, D. (2019). BIGGER ORGANS and ELEPHANT EAR-LIKE LEAF1 control organ size and floral organ internal asymmetry in pea. J. Exp. Bot.70(1), 179–191.
(Cover story)
13.Lee, C.-M., Li, M.-W., Feke, A., Liu, W., Saffer, A.M., and Gendron, J.M. (2019). GIGANTEA recruits the UBP12 and UBP13 deubiquitylates to regulate accumulation of the ZTL photoreceptor complex. Nat. Commun.10(1), 3750.