The Pei Lab has focused on the breeding of economic and ecological economic walnut varieties for more than thirty years, aiming at resolving the fundamental and application problems occurred during the development of walnut industry. The research team has developed the walnut germplasm identification system and identified the core germplasm in China. The world's most comprehensive system for conserving and sharing walnut germplasm resources has also been established. The high-quality reference genome of walnut, as well as a new gene localization technique named OutcrossSeq, has been developed and widely used for exploring the molecular mechanism of the formation of important agronomic traits of walnuts. The technology system of distant cross breeding was established, through which the new cross germplasm was obtained and the new disease-resistant and anti-premature aging stock varieties were successfully bred. Totally 13 improved varieties were approved and 17 new varieties were authorized, which were widely cultivated across China. The Pei Lab has also breached the worldwide problem of clonal reproduction of improved walnut varieties. Since the mechanism of walnut adventitious rooting and its core function gene were discovered, the team proposed the theory for cutting propagation of walnut and other hard-to-root trees. Based on this theory, a new cutting technique was developed and more than 80% rooting rate were obtained on 23 kinds of hard-to-root trees. The Pei Lab also took the lead in carrying out research on integrated technology of high efficiency, high quality and high yield of walnut. The new cultivation mode was successfully applied in Xinjiang, which helped promoting the quality of Chinese walnuts to meet the international market standards. Meanwhile, the index system of walnut cultivation regionalization and quality regionalization has been established, while the first industrial standard complex of walnut production has also been formulated. An ecological cultivation mode of walnut forest for fruit and timber was innovatively proposed, which was directly applied to walnut production.
Key Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China: Genetic Analysis of Early-Maturing Excellent Traits in Walnut and Germplasm Innovation, Duration: January 2024 to December 2028;
National Key R&D Program during the "14th Five-Year Plan": Mechanisms of Yield and Quality Formation in Major Woody Oil Tree Species, Duration: December 2023 to November 2028;
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region "Jie Bang Gua Shuai" Project: Study on the Mechanism and Integrated Control Techniques of Xinjiang Blight, Duration: August 2023 to December 2025;
Shandong Province Taishan Talent Project: Creation and Cultivation of New Walnut Germplasm for Both Fruit and Timber Use: Key Technologies and Industrialization, Duration: January 2019 to December 2022;
National Key Laboratory Key Project: Mining of Superior Walnut Genes and Molecular Basis of Economic Trait Formation, Duration: January 2019 to December 2022;
National Natural Science Foundation General Project: Analysis of Polygenic Mechanisms Improving Rooting Capability in Walnut Rejuvenation, Duration: January 2017 to December 2020;
Key Project of the Basic Research Fund for Central Public Welfare Research Institutes: Key Techniques for Enhancing Quality and Efficiency in Walnut, Duration: December 2016 to November 2021;
National Science and Technology Support Program during the "12th Five-Year Plan": Key Techniques for Efficient Production of Walnut and Black Walnut: Research and Demonstration, Duration: 2013 to 2017;
National Fundamental Science and Technology Special Project: Collection and Preservation of Germplasm Resources for Economic Tree Species in North China Mountains, Duration: June 2013 to May 2018;
National Natural Science Foundation General Project: Study on Auxin Response Gene CpG Island Methylation Reprogramming during Walnut Buried Stem Rejuvenation and Rooting Process, Duration: December 2012 to December 2015.
Xiaobo Song, Ruimin Huang, Hao Liu, Zhang Junpei, Yingying Chang, Dong Pei*. Transcriptome profiling of Indole-3-Butyric Acid-Induced Adventitious Root Formation in softwood Cuttings of walnut[J]. Horticultural Plant Journal, 2024.
Feng Jin, Ye Zhou, Pu Zhang, Ruimin Huang, Wei Fan, Baoxin Li, Guangzhu Li, Xiaobo Song, Dong Pei*. Identification of key lipogenesis stages and proteins involved in walnut kernel development[J]. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2023, 71(10): 4306-4318.
Yingying Chang, Xiaobo Song, Qixiang Zhang , Pu Zhang, Xiaoshuo Lei, Dong Pei*. Robust CRISPR/Cas9 mediated gene editing of JrWOX11 manipulated adventitious rooting and vegetative growth in a nut tree species of walnut[J]. Scientia Horticulturae, 2022, 303: 111199.
Mengjiao Chen, Weijuan Fan, Feiyang Ji, Hua Hua, Jie Liu, Mengxiao Yan, Qingguo Ma, Jiongjiong Fan, Qin Wang, Shufeng Zhang, Guiling Liu, Zhe Sun, Changgeng Tian, Fengling Zhao, Jianli Zheng, Qi Zhang, Jiaxin Chen, Jie Qiu, Xin Wei, Ziru Chen, Peng Zhang*, Dong Pei*, Jun Yang*, Xuehui Huang*. Genome-wide identification of agronomically important genes in outcrossing crops using OutcrossSeq. Molecular Plant, 2021, 14(4): 556~570.
Feiyang Ji, Qingguo Ma, Wenting Zhang, Jie Liu, Yu Feng, Peng Zhao, Xiaobo Song, Jiaxin Chen, Junpei Zhang, Xin Wei, Ye Zhou, Yingying Chang, Pu Zhang, Xuehui Huang, Jie Qiu*, Dong Pei*. A genome variation map provides insights into the genetics of walnut adaptation and agronomic traits[J]. Genome Biology, 2021, 22: 1-22.
Ruimin Huang, Ye Zhou, Junpei Zhang, Feiyang Ji, Feng Jin, Wei Fan, Dong Pei*. Transcriptome analysis of walnut (Juglans regia L.) embryos reveals key developmental stages and genes involved in lipid biosynthesis and polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2021, 69(1): 377~396.
Xiaobo Song, Hao Liu, Dechao Bu, Huzhi Xu, Qingguo Ma, Dong Pei*. Rejuvenation remodels transcriptional network to improve rhizogenesis in mature Juglans tree [J]. Tree Physiology, 2021, 41(10): 1938-1952.
Junpei Zhang, Wenting Zhang, Feiyang Ji, Jie Qiu, Xiaobo Song, Dechao Bu, Gang Pan, Qingguo Ma, Jiaxin Chen, Ruimin Huang, Yingying Chang, Dong Pei *. A high‐quality walnut genome assembly reveals extensive gene expression divergences after whole‐genome duplication[J]. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 2020, 18(9): 1848~1850.
YongChao Bai, YingYing Chang, Muzammil Hussain, Bin Lu, JunPei Zhang, XiaoBo Song, XiaShuo Lei, Dong Pei*. Soil chemical and microbiological properties are changed by long-term chemical fertilizers that limit ecosystem functioning[J]. Microorganisms, 2020, 8(5): 694.
Lingna Chen, Runquan Dong, Qingguo Ma, Yu Zhang, Shizhong Xu, Delu Ning, Qin Chen, Dong Pei*. Precocious genotypes and homozygous tendency generated by self-pollination in walnut[J]. BMC Plant Biology, 2018, 18(1): 323.
Hao Liu, Ying Gao, Xiaobo Song, Qingguo Ma, Junpei Zhang, Dong Pei*. A novel rejuvenation approach to induce endohormones and improve rhizogenesis in mature Juglans tree[J]. Plant Methods, 2018, 14(1): 13.
Hua Wang, Gang Pan, Qingguo Ma, Junpei Zhang, Dong Pei*. The genetic diversity and introgression of Juglans regia and Juglans sigillata in Tibet as revealed by SSR markers[J]. Tree Genetics & Genomes, 2015, 11(1): 804.
