LIU LAB
@
College of
Biological Sciences
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-DAVIS
2203 LIFE SCIENCES
Telephone: (530) 754-8139
FAX: (530) 752-5410
Our laboratory is located in room 2203 of the Life
Sciences building. Our team works on how
plant and fungal cells organize their cytoplasmic contents. We use microscopic and imaging tools to watch
how cells divide and enlarge themselves.
People in the laboratory also routinely carry out experiments of protein
biochemistry, molecular biology, as well as classical and molecular genetics. We have open
positions for graduate students and undergraduate students. If you are interested in traveling into plant
and fungal cells, please contact Dr.
Bo Liu, the principal investigator, at bliu@ucdavis.edu. You are invited to visit the laboratory or
talk to Dr. Liu at (530) 754-8138.
Recent results are summarized in the posters presented outside the
laboratory.
People
in the Laboratory:
Determined
postdoctoral and visiting scientists:
Dr. Yuh-Ru Julie Lee
(Ph.D., University of Georgia, Athens, GA)
Dr. Sulian
Lv (Ph.D., Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Assistant Professor, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing,
China)
Dr. Hongchang Zhang
(Ph.D., Northwestern Agricultural and Forestry University. Lecturer,
Northwestern Agricultural and Forestry University, Yangling,
Shaanxi, China)
Dependable
undergraduate students:
Ms. Xueer
(Cher) Jiang
Ms. Veronica Nguyen
Ms. Felicia Peng
Ms. Jue
Wang
Sharing
a Relaxing Moment outside the Laboratory (celebrating the graduation of three
wonderful undergraduate students: Jia Jin Chen, Yin Yin Chong, and Yimeng He)
A
Picture from Our Experiments:
This is an Arabidopsis
cell undergoing cell division.
Segregated sister chromatids are labeled in blue, microtubules in red,
and the microtubule-associated protein MAP65-3 in green. Dr. C.-M. Kimmy Ho devoted much of her dissertation
to understanding the function of MAP65-3 in cytokinesis. The human counterpart of MAP65-3 is called
PRC1 which also is required for cell division.
An
Example of the Organisms We Are Working On:
These are images of colonies of the filamentous
fungus Aspergillus nidulans. This fungus is one of the model organisms
used for classical genetic studies of fundamental biological processes like the
cell cycle. The yellow color was given
by the asexual conidial spores produced on the surface of the colonies. The images were taken from identical plates
incubated at different temperatures indicated on the left. The strain to the left was a control one
which demonstrated a typical growth phenomenon.
The middle and right ones were mutants which had problems in nuclear
migration. It has been demonstrated by
many scientists that the mechanism for nuclear migration in this fungus is very
similar to that regulating nuclear migration during fertilization and in brain
development in mammals.
Recent
Publications:
Lee,
Y.-R.J., Y. Li, and B. Liu. 2007. Two homologous phragmoplast-associated
kinesins play a critical role in cytokinesis during male gametogenesis in
Arabidopsis. Plant
Cell. 19:2595-2605.
Bisgrove S.R., Y.-R. J. Lee, B. Liu, N. Peters, and D.L. Kropf. 2008. The microtubule plus-end binding protein EB1
functions in root responses to touch and gravity signals in Arabidopsis. Plant
Cell. 20:396–410.
Guo*,
L., C.-M. Ho*, Z. Kong*, Y.-R.J. Lee*, Q. Qian, and B. Liu. 2009. Evaluating
the microtubule cytoskeleton and its interacting proteins in monocots by mining
the rice genome. Annals
Bot. 103: 387–402. (* equal contributions)
Kim,
J.-M., C.T. Zeng, T. Nayak, R. Shao, A. Huang, B.R. Oakley, and B. Liu. 2009.
Timely septation requires SNAD-dependent spindle pole
body localization of the septation initiation network
components in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus
nidulans. Mol. Biol.
Cell. 20:2874–2884.
Zeng,
C.T., Y.-R.J. Lee, and Liu, B. 2009. The WD-40 repeat protein NEDD1 functions
in microtubule organization during cell division in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell.
21:1129–1140.
Kong,
Z., T. Hotta, Y.-R.J. Lee, T. Horio, and B. Liu. 2010. The g-tubulin complex protein GCP4 is required for organizing functional
microtubule arrays in Arabidopsis
thaliana. Plant
Cell. 22:191–204.
Liu,
B., T. Hotta, C.-M.K. Ho, and Y.-R.J. Lee. 2011. Microtubule organization in
the phragmoplast. In The
Plant Cytoskeleton, Advances in Plant Biology 2, B. Liu (ed.).
Springer, New York. Pp 207-225.
Liu,
B., C.-M. K. Ho, and Y.-R.J. Lee. 2011. Microtubule reorganization during
mitosis and cytokinesis: lessons learned from developing microgametophytes
in Arabidopsis thaliana. Front.
Plant Sci. 2:27. doi:
10.3389/fpls.2011.00027
Ho*,
C.-M.K., T. Hotta*, Z. Kong*, C.T. Zeng*, J. Sun, Y.-R.J. Lee, and B. Liu.
2011. Augmin plays a critical role in organizing the
spindle and phragmoplast microtubule arrays in
Arabidopsis. Plant
Cell. 23:2606–2618. (* equal contributions)
Ho,
C.-M.K., T. Hotta, F. Guo, R. Roberson, Y.-R.J. Lee, and B. Liu. 2011.
Interaction of anti-parallel microtubules in the phragmoplast
is mediated by the microtubule-associated protein MAP65-3 in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell.
23:2909–2923.
Hotta,
T., Z. Kong, C.M.K. Ho, C.J.T. Zeng, T. Horio, S. Fong, T. Vuong, Y.R.J. Lee,
and B. Liu. 2012. Characterization of the Arabidopsis augmin
complex uncovers its critical function in the assembly of the acentrosomal spindle and phragmoplast
microtubule arrays. Plant Cell.
24:1494-1509.
Ho,
C.-M.K., Y.R.J. Lee, L.D. Kiyama, S.P. Dinesh-Kumar, and B. Liu. 2012.
Arabidopsis microtubule-associated protein MAP65-3 cross-links anti-parallel
microtubules toward their plus ends in the phragmoplast
via its distinct C-terminal microtubule-binding domain. Plant Cell.
24:2071-2085.
Liu,
B. 2013. Microtubule disassembly: when a sleeper is activated. Current
Biology, 23: R932-933.
Lee,
Y.-R.J. and B. Liu. 2013. The rise and fall of the phragmoplast
microtubule array. Curr Opin Plant Biol. 16:757–763.
Zeng,
C.T., H.R. Kim, I. Vargus Arispuro, J.-M. Kim, A.-C.
Huang, and B. Liu. 2014. Microtubule plus end-tracking proteins play critical
roles in directional growth of hyphae by regulating the dynamics of cytoplasmic
microtubules in Aspergillus nidulans. Mol Microbiol. 94 (3):506-521.
Liu,
T., J. Tian, G. Wang, Y. Yu, C. Wang, Y. Ma, X. Zhang, G. Xia, B. Liu, Z. Kong.
2014. Augmin triggers microtubule-dependent
microtubule nucleation in interphase plant cells. Current
Biology. 24:2708-2713.
Kong,
Z., M. Ioki, S. Braybrook, S. Li, R. Zhong, Z. Ye, Y.-R.J. Lee, T. Hotta, A. Chang, J. Tian, G.
Wang, and B. Liu. 2015. Kinesin-4 functions in vesicular transport on cortical
microtubules and regulates cell wall mechanics during cell elongation in
plants. Molecular
Plant. 8(7):1011-1023.
Wang,
B., K. Li , M. Jin, R. Qiu,
B. Liu, B.R. Oakley, and X. Xiang. 2015. The Aspergillus nidulans bimC4 mutation
provides an excellent tool for identification of kinesin-14 inhibitors. Fungal
Genet. Biol. 82:51-55.
Lee,
Y.-R.J., W. Qiu, and B. Liu. 2015. Kinesin motors in
plants: from subcellular dynamics to motility regulation. Curr Opin Plant Biol. 28:120-126.