Research

Current Research of Tsai Yun Lin's Laboratory

Environmental Stress

Low non-freezing temperatures severely challenge crop productivity and quality to tropical or subtropical plants.  To uncover the molecular mechanisms of the inherent chilling-susceptibility, we perform a comparative gene expression profiling in seedlings of two mungbean (Vigna radiata) varieties.  Our goal is to explore the molecular mechanism of the repair of chilling injury and resumption of plant growth during the recovery process using the cDNA microarray and qRT-PCR.  Low temperature is required for Phalaenopsis aphrodite subsp. formosana to shift from vegetative growth to reproductive growth; however, chilling decreases orchid production.  It is of interest to study the physiological function of the genes in response to environmental changes.  Studies on the expression patterns of stress-induced genes and their physiological roles in P. aphrodite and V. radiata are undertaken in our laboratory.

Natural Herb

   Recently the healing properties of natural herbs have received wide public attention and medical validation in the world.  We have studied the regulatory network of methyl-jasmonate (MeJA)-induced genes in adventitious root cultures of the medicinal herb Bupleurum kaoi using a functional transcriptomic approach with a cDNA microarray and real-time qRT-PCR to verify changes in expression of the uniESTs.  Some of these MeJA-induced genes have applications in agricultural, pharmaceutical and food industries.  We intend to carry out further experiments to reveal the physiological functions of the gene products.