Zhen-Ming Pei
Associate Professor of Biology
Office:
3102 Ffsc, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-1000
Campus Box:
Box 90338, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-1000
Phone:
(919) 613-8152
Email:
My laboratory is interested in the early signaling events by which plants sense environmental signals and decode to give the appropriate responses. Upon perception of external signals, cell surface receptors trigger an increase in cytosolic free calcium concentration, which is mediated by ion channels. Our long-term goals are to identify these receptors and ion channels, isolate their interacting components, and assign molecular functions to them. Currently, we are using multidisciplinary approaches of biophysics, biochemistry, cell biology, molecular genetics, and function genomics to dissect the signaling cascades of external calcium as well as nitric oxide in the model plant Arabidopsis.
Education
Ph.D., Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology 1993
M.S., Fudan University (China) 1990
B.S., Lanzhou University (China) 1985
Pei, Z., W. Fu, L. Guo, and Z. Tang. “Effect of salt stress on photosystem II heterogeneity in wheat leaves.” Science in China, Series C: Life Sciences 39, no. 5 (October 1, 1996): 501–10.
Ward, J. M., Z. M. Pei, and J. I. Schroeder. “Roles of ion channels in initiation of signal transduction in higher plants.” Plant Cell 7, no. 7 (January 1, 1995): 833–44.