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. Zhimin
Gu (Ph.D., Nanjing Agricultural University. Associate Professor, Zhejiang Normal
University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China)
Dr. Takehide Kato (Ph.D.,
Kyoto University. Assistant Professor,
Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Nara, Japan)
Dr. Yuh-Ru Julie Lee
(Ph.D., University of Georgia, Athens, GA)
Dr. Honghui
Lin (Ph.D., Sichuan University.
Professor, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China)
Mr. Jeh
Haur Wong (Ph.D. candidate, Nara Institute of Science
and Technology, Nara, Japan)
Dr. Tingting
Xie (Ph.D., Wuhan University. Lecturer, Huazhong
Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China)
Dependable
undergraduate students:
Mr. Jia Jin Chen
Ms. Yin Yin Chong
Ms. Catherine Fu
Mr. Yimeng He
Mr. Sonny Van
Sharing
a Relaxing Moment outside the Laboratory:
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.