Center for Genetic Improvement

Established in 2022, the Genetic Improvement Research Center is one of the high-level innovative research platforms of the Straits Joint Research Institute of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. The total laboratory construction area is about 1500 m2, including 200 m2 indoor greenhouse and 180 m2 sunlight greenhouse. With Professor Wu Jianguo as the chief scientist and director of the center, the Research Center has 16 full-time researchers, including 4 professors, 9 associate professors, 2 assistant researchers and 1 postdoctoral fellow. It has 1 winner of the National Outstanding Youth Fund and 4 provincial talents.

The Genetic Improvement Research Center consists of three main research areas. 1) Research direction of Wu Jianguo's team: antiviral and virus-causing mechanism of rice. 2) Research direction of He Shuilin's team: Research on disease resistance mechanism of pepper and its genetic improvement and breeding of new varieties. 3) Zhuang Weijian Team: Genetic improvement of peanut disease resistance. Through research, the center creates a first-class advanced scientific research platform, which meets the major needs of the country, and aims to explain the antiviral resources and genes of rice, pepper and peanut by applying related technologies such as genetics, reverse genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry and bioinformatics. Serve the national food production security and lay the foundation for the final solution of plant virus disease. The Genetic Improvement Research Center adopts the scientific research management and operation mechanism that is in line with international standards, strives to ensure that the research field reaches the international advanced level, and provides support and contributions to the human development of plant genetic improvement.

The teachers of the research center have published more than 100 articles, among which the school is the first author or the first communication unit in Nature Plants, Molecular Plant, More than 60 SCI papers have been published in international high-level academic journals such as Nature Genetics, eLife, PLoS Pathogens and New Phytologist. Adhering to the code of conduct of respecting the profession, enjoying the group, educating the people and the concept of nourishing the world and cultivating talents, the team adheres to the coordinated development of basic research and applied research with the guidance of national strategy, discipline frontier and major scientific and technological needs of economic and social development. Under the guidance of Academician Xie Lianhui and other older scientists, the team inherits the research on the characteristics of plant viruses. It has formed a fine tradition of hard work and unremitting self-improvement, accumulated a cultural heritage of unity and pragmatism, and made unremitting efforts for the development of disciplines, serving agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and promoting the cause of strengthening agriculture and enriching the people.