Lin Zongcheng

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Lin Zongcheng

Degree: Ph.D.
Title: Professor
Graduation School:  University of Birmingham

Office: 732, South Building

I started my research career at Harbin Institute of Technology, China, majoring in Bioengineering. Through a series of fortunate accidents, I ended up doing my PhD in Noni Franklin-Tong’s lab at the University of Birmingham. Here I established the functional transfer of the Papaver rhoeas self-incompatibility (SI) genes into Arabidopsis (“poppydopsis”; Science, 2015). I then moved to Belgium on an independent FWO Fellowship. Using the “poppydopsis” system established during my PhD, I have been investigating the molecular mechanisms of SI-induced programmed cell death (PCD) in Moritz Nowack’s lab at VIB and showed that the Papaver SI genes can work ectopically in vegetative cells as well as in their normal reproductive function, to trigger PCD response (Plant Physiology, 2020). I also identified HLD1/AtPGAP1, a GPI-inositol deacylase, as a critical component required for the SI response, revealing a key functional role for GPI-AP remodeling by inositol deacylation in planta.

Currently, my lab is focusing on the cell-to-cell communication mechanisms during plant propagation, including gamete cell-to-cell communications of SI response, and somatic cell-to-cell communications during grafting. We are aiming at construction of an SI-based F1 hybrids breeding system by making use of the Papaver SI genes, and breaking the grafting-incompatibilities between distantly related plant species through understanding the basic recognition mechanisms during grafting. Collectively, we are aiming at breeding more smartly!

[1] 2011.09-2015.12 University of Birmingham > PhD Biochemistry
[2] 2007.08-2011.07 Harbin Institute of Technology > BE Bioengineering

[1] 2022.01-present Huazhong Agriculture University > Professor
[2] 2015.06-2021.12 VIB-UGent joint Center for Plant Systems Biology > Postdoc Research Fellow

1. Fei Xie#, Hannah Vahldick#, Zongcheng Lin* and Moritz Nowack*. Killing me softly – programmed cell death in plant reproduction from sporogenesis to fertilization. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 2022, Accepted.

2. Zongcheng Lin#*, Fei Xie#, Marina Trivino#, Tao Zhao, Frederik Coppens, Lieven Sterck, Maurice Bosch*, Vernonica E. Franklin-Tong* and Moritz K. Nowack*. Self-incompatibility requires GPI anchor remodeling by the poppy PGAP1 orthologue HLD1. Current Biology, 2022, 32: 1909–1923.

3. Zongcheng Lin, Fei Xie, Marina Trivino, Mansour Karimi, Maurice Bosch, Vernonica E. Franklin-Tong and Moritz K. Nowack*. Ectopic expression of a self-incompatibility module triggers growth arrest and cell death in vegetative cells. Plant Physiology, 2020, 183: 1765–1779.

4. Zongcheng Lin, Deborah J.Eaves, Eugenio Sanchez-Moran, F. Christopher H. Franklin and Vernonica E. Franklin-Tong*. The Papaver rhoeas S determinants confer self-incompatibility to Arabidopsis thaliana in planta. Science, 2015, 350: 684–687.

5. Ludi Wang, Zongcheng Lin, José Carli, Agnieszka Gladala-Kostarz, Julia M. Davies, Vernonica E. Franklin-Tong* and Maurice Bosch*. ATP depletion plays a pivotal role in self-incompatibility, revealing a link between cellular energy status, cytosolic acidification and actin remodelling in pollen tubes. New Phytologist, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18350.

6. Tamanna Haque#, Deborah J Eaves#, Zongcheng Lin, Cleidiane G Zampronio, Helen J Cooper, Maurice Bosch, Nicholas Smirnoff, and Vernonica E. Franklin-Tong*. Self-incompatibility triggers irreversible oxidative modification of proteins in incompatible pollen. Plant Physiology, 2020, 183: 1391–1401.

7. Ludi Wang, Marina Triviño, Zongcheng Lin, José Carli, Deborah J Eaves, Daniёl Van Damme, Moritz K. Nowack, Vernonica E. Franklin-Tong*, and Maurice Bosch*. New opportunities and insights into Papaver self-incompatibility by imaging engineered Arabidopsis pollen. Journal of Experimental Botany, 2020, 71: 2451–2463.

8. Ludi Wang, Zongcheng Lin, Marina Trivino, Moritz K. Nowack, Vernonica E. Franklin-Tong* and Maurice Bosch*. Self-incompatibility in Papaver pollen: programmed cell death in an acidic environment. Journal of Experimental Botany, 2019, 70: 2113–2123.

9. Zhen Gao#, Anna Daneva#, Yuliya Salanenka, Matthias Van Durme, Marlies Huysmans, Zongcheng Lin, Freya De Winter, Steffen Vanneste, Mansour Karimi, Jan Van de Velde, Klaas Vandepoele, Davy Van de Walle, Koen Dewettinck, Bart N Lambrecht and Moritz K. Nowack* (2018) KIRA1 and ORESARA1 terminate flower receptivity by promoting cell death in the stigma of Arabidopsis. Nature Plants, 2018, 4: 365–375.

10. Deborah J. Eaves, Carlos Flores-Ortiz, Tamanna Haque, Zongcheng Lin, Nianjun Teng and Vernonica E. Franklin-Tong*. Self-incompatibility in Papaver: advances in integrating the signalling network. Biochemical Society Transactions, 2014, 42: 370–376.