Dr. Chao-Ying Chen Title : Professor Highest degree : PhD. Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, USA Specialties : Plant Bacteriology, Molecular Plant Pathology E-mail : cychen@ntu.edu.tw Office : Room 402, The New Hall of Plant Pathology Telephone : 886-2-3366-5207 (Lab)　886-2-2365-7735 FAX : 886-2-2365-7735 Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory

Positions

Professor, Dept. of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, National Taiwan University Associate Professor, Dept. of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, National Taiwan University Associate Professor, Dept. of Plant Pathology, National Taiwan University Associate Professor, Dept. of Plant Pathology and Entomology, National Taiwan University Lecturer, Dept. of Plant Pathology and Entomology, National Taiwan University Teaching assistant, Dept. of Plant Pathology and Entomology, National Taiwan University

Honors and Awards

Research Interests

1. Systemic resistance of plants induced by Bacillus cereus
   

   Bacillus cereus biocontrol strain was isolated from the rhizosphere of Formosa lily, which suppresses disease development of Botrytis leaf blight. Similar plant protection effect was observed in Oriental lily cultivars, Star Gazer and Acapulco. When applying in maize, B. cereus suppresses symptom development of Southern leaf blight and promote the plant growth. B. cereus biocontrol strain exhibited inhibitory activity on mycelial growth and conidial germination of several phytopathogenic fungi. The interaction of plant and B. cereus results in systemic resistance of plants against fungal pathogens. Several molecular markers have been cloned via molecular biology methods and used to unravel the mechanisms of disease resistance and plant growth-promotion in lily. In addition, transposon mutagenesis was applied to clone the genes related to the antagonism and ISR-elicitation conferred by B. cereus for better understanding on the molecular interactions between B. cereus and the plants.

   
   
2. Plant defense-related genes of lily
   

   In Oriental lily cultivar Star Gazer, the treatments of salicylic acid and probenazole conduct resistance against Botrytis elliptica; in addition, the infection of lily leaves by B. elliptica induces systemic resistance to B. elliptica in upper leaves. A cDNA, designated LsGRP1, coding for glycine-rich protein was cloned from cv. Star Gazer in the analysis of differential gene expression in response to SA treatment. The Northern hybridization demonstrates the inducibility of LsGRP1 gene expression by SA, probenazole, and B. elliptica. The relatedness of LsGRP1 in plant defense is studied on the localization of LsGRP1 in lily tissues and cells, and the cloning of LsGRP1 promoter for the analysis of inducibility of gene expression is underway.

   
   
3. Chitinase system of Bacillus cereus
   

   Bacillus cereus strain 28-9, an antagonistic bacterium against Botrytis leaf blight of lily, produces two chitinases, ChiCW and ChiCH. Genes encoding ChiCW and ChiCH have been cloned in E. coli for protein expression and purification. An in vitro assay showed that ChiCW significantly suppressed conidial germination of Botrytis elliptica , but ChiCH only caused a slight inhibition. The antifungal activity of ChiCW requires its chitin-binding domain (CBD) since deletion mutant without CBD does not show antifungal activity against B. elliptica .

Lab Members

Chien-Jui Huang : Biological control mechanism of Bacillus cereus against phytopathogenic fungi
Yi-Hong Liu : Molecular mechanism of induced systemic resistance of lily against Botrytis elliptica
Chia-Hua Lin : Functional study of LsGRP1 and the cloning of LsGRP1 promoter from lily

1. Chen, C.Y. and Kado, C.I. 1994. Inhibition of Agrobacterium tumefaciens oncogenicity by the osa gene of IncW plasmid pSa. J. Bacteriol. 176:5697-5703. (SCI)
2. Chen, C.Y. and Kado, C.I. 1996. Osa protein encoded by plasmid pSa is localized at the inner membrane but not inhibit membrane association of VirB and VirD virulence proteins in Agrobacterium tumefaciens. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 135:85-92. (SCI)
3. Chen, C.Y. and Huang, H.E. 1997. Salicylic acid-induced resistance of lily leaves against Botrytis elliptica. Plant Pathol. Bull. 6:76-82.
4. Lu, Y.Y. and Chen, C.Y. 1998. Probenazole-induced resistance of lily against Botrytis gray mold. Plant Pathol. Bull. 7:134-140.
5. Chen, C.Y., Liao, H.L., and Chung, J.C. 1999. Amplification of virD1 and opine synthase gene from tumorigenic rose and aster strains of Agrobacterium in Taiwan by polymerase chain reaction. Plant Pathol. Bull. 8:143-148.
6. Liao, H.L., Huang, T.C., and Chen, C.Y. 2001. Characteristics of rose and aster strains of Agrobacterium in Taiwan. Plant Pathol. Bull. 10:27-36.
7. Hou, P.F. and Chen, C.Y. 2003. Early stages of infection of lily leaves by Botrytis elliptica and B. cinerea. Plant Pathol. Bull. 12:103-108.
8. Chen, C.Y., Wang, Y.H., and Huang, C.J. 2004. Enhancement of the antifungal activity of Bacillus subtilis F29-3 by the chitinase encoded by Bacillus circulans chiA gene. Can. J. Microbiol. 50: 451-454. (SCI)
9. Chen, C.T., Huang, C.J., Wang, Y.H., and Chen, C.Y. 2004. Two-step purification of Bacillus circulans chitinase A1 expressed in Escherichia coli periplasm. Protein Expr. Purif. 37: 27-31. (SCI)
10. Huang, C.J. and Chen, C.Y. 2004. Gene cloning and biochemical characterization of chitinase CH from Bacillus cereus 28-9. Ann. Microbiol. 54: 289-297. (SCI)
11. Huang, H.E., Ger, M.J., Yip, M.K., Chen, C.Y., Pandey, A.K., and Feng, T.Y. 2004. A hypersensitive response was induced by virulent bacteria in transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing a plant ferredoxin-like protein (PFLP). Physiol. Mol. Plant Pathol. 64: 103-110. (SCI)
12. Huang, C.J., Wang, T.K., Chung, S.C., and Chen, C.Y. 2005. Identification of an antifungal chitinase from a potential biocontrol agent, Bacillus cereus 28-9. J. Biochem. Mol. Biol. 38:82-88. (SCI)
13. Huang, C.J. and Chen, C.Y. 2005. High-level expression and characterization of two chitinases, ChiCH and ChiCW, of Bacillus cereus 28-9 in Escherichia coli. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commu. 327:8-17. (SCI)
14. Lu, Y.Y. and Chen, C.Y. 2005. Molecular analysis of lily leaves in response to salicylic acid effective towards protection against Botrytis elliptica. Plant Sci. 169:1-9. (SCI)
15. Chen, C.Y. and Lu, Y.Y. 2005. An isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a glycine-rich polypeptide. US patent.
16. Chen, C.Y. and Hou. P.F. 2006. Nucleic acid encoding beta-1,3-glucanase from lily. US patent.
17. Huang, C.J. and Chen, C.Y. 2006. Functions of the C-terminal region of chitinase ChiCW from Bacillus cereus 28-9 in substrate-binding and hydrolysis of chitin. J. Microbiol Biotechnol. 16:1897-1903. (SCI)
18. Huang, H.E., Ger, M.J., Chen, C.Y., Yip, M.K., Chung, M.C., and Feng, T.Y. 2006. Plant ferredoxin-like protein (PFLP) exhibits an anti-microbial ability against soft rot pathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora in vitro and in vivo. Plant Sci. 171:17-23. (SCI)
19. Huang, H.E., Ger, M.J., Chen, C.Y., Pandey, A.K., Yipi, M.K., Chou, H.W., and Feng, T.Y. 2007. Disease resistance to bacterial pathogens affected by the amount of ferredoxin-I protein in plants. Mol. Plant Pathol. 8:129-137. (SCI)
20. Lu, Y.Y., Liu, Y.H., and Chen, C.Y. 2007. Stomatal closure, callose deposition, and increase of LsGRP1-corresponding transcript in probenazole-induced resistance against Botrytis elliptica in lily. Plant Sci. 172:913-919. (SCI)
21. Huang, C. J., and Chen, C. Y. 2008. Synergistic interactions between chitinase ChiCW and fungicides against plant fungal pathogens. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 18: 784-787.
22. Liu, Y. H., C. J. Huang, and Chen, C. Y. 2008. Evidence of induced systemic resistance against Botrytis elliptica in lily. Phytopathology 98: 830-836.
23. Huang, C.J., Guo, S.H., Chung, S.C., Lin, Y.J., and Chen, C. Y. 2009. Analysis of the involvement of chitin-binding domain of ChiCW in antifungal activity, and engineering a novel chimeric chitinase with high enzyme and antifungal activities. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 19:1169-1175. (SCI)
24. Liu, Y.-H., Huang, C.-J., and Chen, C.-Y. 2010. Identification and transcriptional analysis of genes involved in Bacillus cereus-induced systemic resistance in Lilium. Biol. Plant. (in print) (SCI)
25. uang, C.-J., Yang, K.-H., Liu, Y.-H., Lin, Y.-J., and Chen, C.-Y. 2010. Suppression of southern corn leaf blight by a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium Bacillus cereus C1L. Ann. Appl. Biol. 157:45–53. (SCI)