Dr. Cheng-Guo Duan visited Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS) on December 10, 2015, and gave a lecture entitled “Epigenetic Anti-silencing and Active DNA Demethylation in Arabidopsis”.

DNA methylation plays a key role in genome stability, development and stress responses in plants and mammals. The status of DNA methylation is determined by the dynamic balance of methylation and demethylation reactions. Human aging, and cancers and many other diseases are associated with DNA methylation changes. The mechanism of DNA methylation has been studied extensively. In contrast, the mechanism of active DNA demethylation and its regulation are less well understood.

During the lecture, Dr. Duan introduced several new components required for the regulation of DNA demethylation and prevention of transcriptional gene silencing in Arabidopsis. These regulators include ASI1 (anti-silening 1), MET18, HDP1 (Harbinger transposon-derived protein 1) and HDP2. These studies provide new insights in the molecular mechanism of DNA demethylation.

Dr. Duan was invited by Prof. Hui-Shan Guo at State Key Lab of Plant Genomics. He obtained his PhD in IMCAS in 2008, and then took the position in IMCAS as an Assistant Professor. Since 2012, Dr. Cheng-Guo Duan conducted postdoctoral research at the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue University in Indiana, USA. His research primarily focuses on the RNA silencing mechanisms. He has published more than 20 research papers in high levels of international journals, including the Plant cell, EMBO Journal, PloS Genetics, PNAS and Cell Research.