题 目：Light input to the plant circadian clock
报告人：Seth J. Davis教授
主持人：何跃辉 教授
时 间：2026年06月18日 星期四 10:00 -12:00
报告地点：北京大学王克桢楼 454 教室
报告人简介：
Professor Seth J. Davis is the Chair of Plant Biology and a prominent plant geneticist at the University of York. His research group utilizes molecular genetics to investigate plant and algal physiology, metabolism, and development, focusing on two primary themes: angiosperm circadian-clock function and environmental responses in extremophilic microalgae. By utilizing Arabidopsis, barley, and the extreme red alga Galdieria, his lab translates mechanistic discoveries of environmental sensing into practical crop improvement and assesses the economic potential of extremophiles for Industrial Biotechnology. As an educator, Professor Davis employs a skills-based, research-led teaching approach designed to foster students' long-term career ambitions, guiding them through hands-on project execution, critical literature analysis, and essential scientific communication skills such as grant writing.
报告内容：
Plant growth and stress resistance depend on the correct timing of responses to predictable environmental change driven by the Earth's rotation. This timing emerges from the interplay between dawn and dusk sensing and is coordinated by the circadian clock, which aligns physiology with daily light-dark cycles to maintain homeostasis, fitness and growth. We study the clock as a transcriptional-translational feedback system entrained through defined light-signalling pathways. Using genetic dissection, we identified clock components and light-input regulators, linking them to growth and reproductive timing. Our work has particularly focused on how ELF4, ELF3 and red-light signalling through phytochrome shape clock entrainment and function. High-resolution luciferase reporters show how light cues reset oscillator phases, while live-cell imaging visualises the localisation and dynamics of key signalling proteins. We are essentially asking when clock proteins are where, within an emerging area of circadian "blob-ology" focused on dynamic, liquid-like macromolecular assemblies. Together, these approaches reveal how light signalling enters and modulates the plant circadian clock.