Profile
Dr Yuchan Zhou is a plant scientist with interest in the genetic and environmental control of plant development. Her recent research includes functional genomics of nutrient accumulation in developing fruits and seeds, the biology and management of postharvest food loss, stress tolerance, epigenetics and genetic manipulation for disease resistance and production of biocommodities.
Yuchan obtained her Master degree in Plant Physiology from South China Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science before completing her Ph.D in Molecular Biology and Food Technology from University of Newcastle. She conducted post-doctoral research at University of Newcastle and Queensland University of Technology. She also holds a Research Fellow position at the University of Queensland.
Current projects
The current research focus is to improve climate resilience of tropical fruit trees in the windstorm regions through development of low tree form tree crops. Owing to the continuing trend of global climate change in the tropical regions, the success of a species as a sustainable crop for food supply is compromised by frequent and intense hurricane-force windstorms. The project aims to develop wind-resistant tree crops to support the Pacific fruit industry. The research topics include 1) investigating the diversity and molecular basis of tree architecture, 2) development of dwarfing markers for early selection of dwarf phenotype, and 3) identification of dwarfing rootstocks. The project collaborates with geneticists, physiologists and agronomists across national and international institutes.
Research areas
- genetic and environmental control of plant development
- nutrient transport and accumulation in plant
- postharvest biology and fruit loss control
- stress tolerance and disease resistance
- genetic manipulation for production of biocommodities
- Zhou, Yuchan and Underhill, Steven J. R. (2018) Plasma membrane H -ATPase activity and graft success of breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) onto interspecific rootstocks of marang (A. odoratissimus) and pedalai (A. sericicarpus). Plant Biology, . doi:10.1111/plb.12879.
- Underhill, Steven J. R., Zhou, Yuchan, Sherzad, Shukrullah, Singh-Peterson, Lila and Tagoai, Semua Militini (2017) Horticultural postharvest loss in municipal fruit and vegetable markets in Samoa. Food Security, . doi:10.1007/s12571-017-0734-7.
- Zhou, Yuchan and Underhill, Steven (2017) Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) DELLA genes: gibberellin-regulated stem elongation and response to high salinity and drought. Plant Growth Regulation, . doi:10.1007/s10725-017-0302-3.
- Underhill, Steven J. R., Zhou, Yuchan and Kumar, Salesh (2017) Infrared thermal imaging: a practical educational tool to improve smallholder farmer postharvest practice in Fiji. Journal of Agricultural and Food Information, 18 2: 75-78. doi:10.1080/10496505.2016.1275647.
- Zhou, Yuchan and Underhill, Steven J. R. (2016) Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) gibberellin 2-oxidase genes in stem elongation and abiotic stress response. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 98, pp.81-88.
- Zhou, Yuchan and Underhill, Steven J. R. (2015) Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) gibberellin 20-oxidase genes: sequence variants, stem elongation and abiotic stress response. Tree Genetics and Genomes, 11 84: 1-13. doi:10.1007/s11295-015-0909-3.
- Zhou, Yuchan, Pan, Xiaoping, Qu, Hongxia and Underhill, Steven J. R. (2014) Tonoplast lipid composition and proton pump of pineapple fruit during low-temperature storage and blackheart development. Journal of Membrane Biology, 247 5: 429-439. doi:10.1007/s00232-014-9650-3.
- Zhou, Yuchan, Pan, Xiaoping, Qu, Hongxia and Underhill, Steven J. R. (2014) Low temperature alters plasma membrane lipid composition and ATPase activity of pineapple fruit during blackheart development. Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, 46 1: 59-69. doi:10.1007/s10863-013-9538-4.
- Zhou, Yuchan, Taylor, Mary B. and Underhill, Steven J. R. (2014) Dwarfing of Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) Trees: Opportunities and Challenges. American Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 4 12: 1743-1763.
- Zhou, Yuchan, Grof, Christopher P. L. and Patrick, John W. (2014) Proof of concept for a novel functional screening system for plant sucrose effluxers. Journal of Biological Methods, 1 2: e5.1-e5.6. doi:10.14440/jbm.2014.27.
- Vickers C.E., Bydder S.F., Zhou Y. and Nielsen L.K. (2013) Dual gene expression cassette vectors with antibiotic selection markers for engineering in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Microbial Cell Factories, 12 96: 96.1-96.11. doi:10.1186/1475-2859-12-96.
- Wang, Hui, Qian, Zhengjiang, Ma, Sanmei, Zhou, Yuchuan, Patrick, John W., Duan, Xuewu, Jiang, Yueming and Qu, Hongxia (2013) Energy status of ripening and postharvest senescent fruit of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.). BMC Plant Biology, 13 . doi:10.1186/1471-2229-13-55.