Harlan II Symposium

 

 mcluo@ucdavis.edu

Ming-Cheng Luo, Ph.D. Associate Res.  Geneticist Department of Plant Sciences University of California 265 Hunt Hall One Shields Ave. Davis, CA 95616 Phone: 530-754-6235 Fax: 530-752-4361 E-mail: mcluo@ucdavis.edu

My research interests range from plant genetics and plant genome evolution to plant structural genomics and bioinformatics. I received my graduate training at the Triticeae Research Institute of Sichuan Agricultural University where I studied the genetics of interspecific crossability in wheat. In 1993, I joined the team of workers constructing genetic maps of einkorn wheat at UC Davis. I used tools we developed to study factors influencing the distribution of recombination along wheat chromosomes and how recombination between homoeologous chromosomes is regulated by the wheat Ph1 locus (Genetics, 1996, 1998, 2000). 

In recent  years, I have focused on genome evolution, physical mapping and development of genomic resources. I developed an automated, high-throughput BAC fingerprinting procedure (Genomics, 2003) that opened the door for physical mapping of organisms with large genomes. This technique is being used in a number of laboratories worldwide. 

Current Projects:

	Construction of physical maps of  Brachypodium distachyon, a new model for grass genomics. (UC Davis & USDA)
	IWGSC: A physical map and sample sequencing of the homoeologous group-3 chromosomes of wheat (USDA/NRI-Plant Genome Program).
	Gaining insight into the organization and evolution of genomes through wheat - Brachypodium - rice comparative analyses. (NSF/PGCSP)
	Isolation of the wheat Ph1 locus suppressor Su1-Ph1 (USDA/NRI Genetic Mechanisms Program).
	Physical mapping, DNA genotyping, association mapping, genetic mapping, EST sequencing, genome database, walnut genomics. (Walnut Marketing Board/UC Discovery)
	Development of genomics resources for molecular breeding of drought tolerance in Casava. (The Generation Challenge Program)
	Development of genomics resources for molecular breeding in Cowpea. (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)
	Production of an integrated physical and genetic map for rainbow trout. (USDA)
	Construction of a Physical Map in Musa. (Biodiversity International)

Past Projects:

	VCA: Haplotype analysis in wheat and its diploid relatives (NSF DBI-0321757). For more information, see the Project website.
	Coupling expressed sequences and bacterial artificial chromosome resources to access the barley genome (NSF DBI-0321756). For more information, see the Project website.
	Construction of Citrus BAC Contigs (The Citrus Research Board)
	Construction of Williams 82 BAC contigs (United Soybean Board).
	Assessment of the insular organization of the wheat D genome by physical mapping (NSF DBI-0077766).  For more information, see WheatDB.
	Information coupling and optimization of BAC library screening to accelerate progress in barley genomics (North American Barley Genome Project).
	Dissection of genetic mechanisms affecting homoeologous pairing in wheat. (USDA/NRI Genetic Mechanisms Program).

This page was last updated on 12/04/07.