Prof. Hong Luo

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Academic Career Length

34Years (1993-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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7 May 2009 in Small

Journal Article

Uptake, Translocation, and Transmission of Carbon Nanomaterials in Rice Plants

Sijie Lin

Jason Reppert

Qian Hu

JoAn S. Hudson

Michelle L. Reid

Pu Chun Ke

4 January 2013 in Plant Physiology

Journal Article

Constitutive Expression of a miR319 Gene Alters Plant Development and Enhances Salt and Drought Tolerance in Transgenic Creeping Bentgrass

Man Zhou

Dayong Li

Zhigang Li

Qian Hu

Chunhua Yang

Hong Luo

MicroRNA319 (miR319) is one of the first characterized and conserved microRNA families in plants and has been demonstrated to target TCP (for TEOSINTE BRANCHED/CYCLOIDEA/PROLIFERATING CELL FACTORS [PCF]) genes encoding plant-specific transcription factors. MiR319 expression is regulated by environmental stimuli, suggesting its involvement in plant stress response, although experimental evidence is lacking and the underlying mechanism remains elusive. This study investigates the role that miR319 plays in the plant response to abiotic stress using transgenic creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) overexpressing a rice (Oryza sativa) miR319 gene, Osa-miR319a. We found that transgenic plants overexpressing Osa-miR319a displayed morphological changes and exhibited enhanced drought and salt tolerance associated with increased leaf wax content and water retention but reduced sodium uptake. Gene expression analysis indicated that at least four putative miR319 target genes, AsPCF5, AsPCF6, AsPCF8, and AsTCP14, and a homolog of the rice NAC domain gene AsNAC60 were down-regulated in transgenic plants. Our results demonstrate that miR319 controls plant responses to drought and salinity stress. The enhanced abiotic stress tolerance in transgenic plants is related to significant down-regulation of miR319 target genes, implying their potential for use in the development of novel molecular strategies to genetically engineer crop species for enhanced resistance to environmental stress.

30 May 2007 in Theoretical and Applied Genetics

Journal Article

Complete chloroplast genome sequences of Hordeum vulgare, Sorghum bicolor and Agrostis stolonifera, and comparative analyses with other grass genomes

Christopher Saski

Seung-Bum Lee

Siri Fjellheim

Chittibabu Guda

Robert K. Jansen

Jihong Liu Clarke

29 July 2015 in Plant Physiology

Journal Article

Constitutive Expression of Rice MicroRNA528 Alters Plant Development and Enhances Tolerance to Salinity Stress and Nitrogen Starvation in Creeping Bentgrass

Qian Hu

MiRNA miR528 affects plant development and plant response to salt stress and nitrogen starvation.

11 January 2010 in Plant, Cell & Environment

Journal Article

Heterologous expression of Arabidopsis H⁺‐pyrophosphatase enhances salt tolerance in transgenic creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.)

Zhigang Li

Christian M. Baldwin

Qian Hu

Haibo Liu

Hong Luo

The Arabidopsis vacuolar H⁺‐pyrophosphatase (AVP1), when over‐expressed in transgenic (TG) plants, regulates root and shoot development via facilitation of auxin flux, and enhances plant resistance to salt and drought stresses. Here, we report that TG perennial creeping bentgrass plants over‐expressing AVP1 exhibited improved resistance to salinity than wild‐type (WT) controls. Compared to WT plants, TGs grew well in the presence of 100 mm NaCl, and exhibited higher tolerance and faster recovery from damages from exposure to 200 and 300 mm NaCl. The improved performance of the TG plants was associated with higher relative water content (RWC), higher Na⁺ uptake and lower solute leakage in leaf tissues, and with higher concentrations of Na⁺, K⁺, Cl^‐ and total phosphorus in root tissues. Under salt stress, proline content was increased in both WT and TG plants, but more significantly in TGs. Moreover, TG plants exhibited greater biomass production than WT controls under both normal and elevated salinity conditions. When subjected to salt stress, fresh (FW) and dry weights (DW) of both leaves and roots decreased more significantly in WT than in TG plants. Our results demonstrated the great potential of genetic manipulation of vacuolar H⁺‐pyrophosphatase expression in TG perennial species for improvement of plant abiotic stress resistance.

23 November 2016 in Scientific Reports

Journal Article

Bph32, a novel gene encoding an unknown SCR domain-containing protein, confers resistance against the brown planthopper in rice

Juansheng Ren

Fangyuan Gao

Xianting Wu

Xianjun Lu

Lihua Zeng

Guangjun Ren

An urgent need exists to identify more brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugensStål, BPH) resistance genes, which will allow the development of rice varieties with resistance to BPH to counteract the increased incidence of this pest species. Here, using bioinformatics and DNA sequencing approaches, we identified a novel BPH resistance gene, LOC_Os06g03240 (MSU LOCUS ID), from the rice variety Ptb33 in the interval between the markers RM19291 and RM8072 on the short arm of chromosome 6, where a gene for resistance to BPH was mapped by Jirapong Jairinet al.and renamed as “Bph32”. This gene encodes a unique short consensus repeat (SCR) domain protein. Sequence comparison revealed that theBph32gene shares 100% sequence identity with its allele inOryza latifolia. The transgenic introgression ofBph32into a susceptible rice variety significantly improved resistance to BPH. Expression analysis revealed thatBph32was highly expressed in the leaf sheaths, where BPH primarily settles and feeds, at 2 and 24 h after BPH infestation, suggesting thatBph32may inhibit feeding in BPH. Western blotting revealed the presence of Pph (Ptb33) and Tph (TN1) proteins using a Penta-His antibody, and both proteins were insoluble. This study provides information regarding a valuable gene for rice defence against insect pests.

About Me

Dr. Hong Luo holds a Bachelor's degree in Agronomy and Master's degrees in Plant Genetics and Breeding and Molecular Biology. He completed his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. He then accepted a postdoctoral fellowship from the European Union and the National Center of Scientific Research of France to work on molecular marker development for genetic studies in Gracilaria gracilis. He did his third postdoc at Purdue University. Before joining Clemson University, he was with HybriGene, Inc. as the Director of Research, working on gene transfer for trait modification in turfgrass and rice. He currently maintains several active research projects for both basic and applied research on the genetic modification of crop plants. He is a Faculty Fellow, Clemson Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and the recipient of the 2013 Clemson University Godley-Snell Agricultural Award for Excellence in Agricultural Research. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) and the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB). He was awarded the Fellow Award and President Award of the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB) in 2024 and is the elected member-at-large on the SIVB Board of Directors and served as SIVB Plant Biotechnology Section Program Committee Co-Chair and Chair and as the SIVB 2023 Program Chair.

Prof. Hong Luo

Prof. Hong Luo

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