Remembering Simon Chan
An Unexpected Discovery
A self-proclaimed fundamental biologist, Simon Chan, Associate Professor of Plant Biology, was interested in better understanding how chromosome inheritance works—how genetic material is passed from parent to offspring.
Working with the model organism Arabidopsis, he came upon an unexpected discovery that quickly proved to have a very wide-reaching and powerful effect on the agriculture industry. Dr. Chan discovered a way to grow plants from seeds and have them be genetically identical to the parent. When such plants are bred, they will pass the desired trait, such as pest resistance, fruit flavor or drought tolerance, to all of their offspring. To achieve this, plants usually have to be inbred for several generations before a plant is produced that will breed true—a time consuming and labor intensive process. Dr. Chan's discovery eliminated this process entirely by providing a way to breed plants with genes from only one parent, making it possible to breed true without generations of inbreeding—an ability that is highly valued by the agriculture industry.
Carrying The Promise Forward
In June 2011, Dr. Chan was one of two UC Davis scientists selected for the first-ever class of HHMI-GBMF Investigators, funded jointly by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support promising research in plant sciences. He planned to use the HHMI-GBMF award to expand his work to crop plants such as tomatoes and Chinese cabbage. Anne Britt, Professor of Plant Biology, is carrying this research forward.
A Living Memorial
Simon Chan was a true humanitarian who impacted the lives of human beings across the globe—most of whom he never had the chance to meet—by seeking to improve the quality of life for populations frequently impacted by drought, famine and loss of food crops. He was a mentor in his lab, helping to train and guide numerous young scholars to achieve their goals and make impactful discoveries. And, perhaps most memorably, his exhuberant smile made an impression on every person who was lucky enough to know or work with him.
Although we lost Simon far too soon, his discoveries and legacy will live on with the Simon Chan Memorial Endowment. Created initially to fund graduate student research, the Department of Plant Biology endeavors to raise $2.5 million to establish a faculty chair as well, ensuring that the spirit of Simon's work continues to thrive in our college.
Simon Chan studied the fundamental biology of genetic inheritance with the aim to manipulate it for practical benefit. Centromeres enable chromosome segregation during cell division because they attach to spindle microtubules via a connector called the kinetochore complex. The centromere is epigenetically specified by CENH3, a protein required to bridge DNA to kinetochore connection.
Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana Simon's laboratory discovered that centromere differences between two parents can cause one parental genome to be selectively eliminated when their genomes meet to form the embryo. When Arabidopsis plants expressing altered CENH3 proteins are crossed to wild type, chromosomes from the mutant parent are lost, yielding haploid progeny. This finding prompted Simon to pursue both basic and applied studies with the following objectives.
- Facilitate rapid mapping of plants traits. The Chan laboratory and collaborators demonstrated the use of CENH3-mediate haploid induction for very fast genetic analysis: what that would normally take 7 or 8 generations could be condensed in a single generation through a method that produces double haploids from an F1 hybrid1.
- Provide high yield hybrid seed without the complicated process of hybrid production. Farmers in developed countries can purchase expensive hybrid seed and enjoy its yield and stress tolerance advantage. Traditionally produced hybrid seed, however, cannot be made affordable in developing countries. Simon and collaborators demonstrated a first important step toward simple hybrid seed generation featuring the haploid induction technology.
- Develop new plant breeding methods through chromosomal content engineering, also referred to as "reverse breeding". In collaboration other labs, Simon showed that CENH3-manipulation could be used to rapidly produce multiple characterized combinations of paternal and maternal chromosomes.
- Understand the mechanistic basis of centromere evolution, genome elimination, and haploid-induced chromosome rearrangements.
Simon's work is now continued by his laboratory members and collaborators.
The Simon Chan Memorial Endowment has a primary goal of raising $2.5 million to honor Simon's global impact on Plant Biology and modern agriculture and continue efforts that he initiated.
The Chan Endowment will:
Deliver program support for scientific and outreach activities that promote and enhance the living memory of Professor Simon Chan
Provide faculty funding for advanced studies in the field of chromosome biology with the goal of establishing an Endowed Chair
Provide targeted support for international training and outreach activities in Plant Biology