Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/11
By: Chen Chi-chung and Lee Hsin-Yin
Taipei, Sept. 11 (CNA) Academia Sinica said Friday its scholars have identified a key protein
Wang Chung-ju (王中茹, second left) and her team
function in corn reproduction, which may help improve crop quality.
The findings were published in the latest edition of the scientific journal “The Plant Cell” under the names of Wang Chung-ju (王中茹), an assistant research fellow at the Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology at Academia Sinica, and her research team.
Wang and her research team found that a protein called DSY2 plays an important role in the reproduction of corn.
The team discovered that DSY2, which is located on chromosome axes, is required during a specialized cell division to exchanges parts of DNA from paternal and maternal chromosomes to create a new combination.
The recombination provides genetic diversity and is the molecular basis of crop breeding. [FULL STORY]
