The research achievement of the research group led by Yang Zhongnan and Zhu Jun from the School of Life Sciences at our university, titled Creation of a New Type of Rice Light Temperature Sensitive Sterile Line, was ultimately selected as a major agricultural and rural scientific and technological achievement in China in 2024.
Hybrid rice has made significant contributions to China's food security. Hybrid rice includes three line hybridization and two-line hybridization breeding, and the development trend of hybrid rice is from three line to two-line. Two line hybrid rice relies on photothermal sensitive sterile lines, and the vast majority of rice varieties currently used in production heavily rely on a single genetic locus for photothermal sensitive sterile lines.
The research group led by Yang Zhongnan and Zhu Jun from the School of Life Sciences systematically studied the mechanisms of male infertility and photothermal sensitive infertility, screened and obtained a new type of rice photothermal sensitive male sterile line, and published 13 high-level articles in journals such as Nature Plants, Molecular Plant, and Plant Biotechnology Journal. They have also been granted 6 national patents and 2 international patents.
