Assoc. Prof. Ma, Wei
Plants accumulate oil in the form of triacylglycerol (TAG) in their seeds as a main resource of carbon and energy for seedling development. Plant oils are essential for the human diet and renewable industrial feedstock. The Ma lab focuses on mechanistic understanding of gene regulation of plant oil biosynthesis and translation of knowledge gained from our research into benefits for agro-economy. We use multiple approaches to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of transcription factors that regulates oil biosynthesis. We investigate post-translational modifications, interacting partners, and regulatory domains/motifs of a key oil biosynthetic regulator, called WRINKED1 (WRI1). We establish the interactome of WRI1 and use the information to guide our efforts in understanding the regulatory mechanism of WRI1. We also investigate combinatorial transcriptional regulation of fatty acid biosynthesis in oil crops, with a goal of identifying novel regulators that can be used to improve oil crops. In addition, we are exploring the molecular mechanism underlying seed and fruit developmental processes.
Research Areas
Plant lipid biosynthesis, Regulation of gene expression, Intrinsically disordered proteins in plants, Post-translational modifications, Plant signal transduction
Project Officer
PhD Student
Project Officer
PhD Student
Senior Research Fellow
PhD Student
PhD Student
PhD Student
- Low, P.M., Kong, Q., Blaschek, L., Ma, Z., Lim, P.K., Yang, Y., Quek, T., Lim, C.J.R., Singh, S.K., Crocoll, C., Engquist, E., Thorsen, J.S., Pattanaik, S., Tee, W.T., Mutwil, M., Miao, Y., Yuan, L., Xu, D., Persson, S., and Ma, W. "ZINC FINGER PROTEIN2 suppresses funiculus lignification to ensure seed loading efficiency in Arabidopsis." Developmental Cell 60 (2025): 1719-1729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2025.01.021
- Yang, Y., Kong, Q., Ma, Z., Lim, P.K., Singh, S.K., Pattanaik, S., Mutwil, M., Miao, Y., Yuan, L., and Ma, W. "Phase separation of MYB73 regulates seed oil biosynthesis in Arabidopsis." Plant Physiology 197 (2025): kiae674. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiae674
- Yang, Y., Kong, Q., Tee, W.T., Li, Y., Low, P.M., Patra, B., Guo, L., Yuan, L., and Ma, W. "Transcription factor bZIP52 modulates Arabidopsis seed oil biosynthesis through interaction with WRINKLED1." Plant Physiology 192 (2023): 2628–2639. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiad270
- Qiao, Z., Kong, Q., Tee, W.T., Lim, A.R.Q., Teo, M.X., Olieric, V., Low, P.M., Yang, Y., Qian, G., Ma, W., and Gao, Y.G. "Molecular basis of the key regulator WRINKLED1 in plant oil biosynthesis." Science Advances 8 (2022): eabq1211. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq1211
- Yang, Y., Kong, Q., Lim, A.R.Q., Lu, S., Zhao, H., Guo, L., Yuan, L., and Ma, W. "Transcriptional regulation of oil biosynthesis in seed plants: current understanding, applications, and perspectives." Plant Communications 3 (2022): 100328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xplc.2022.100328