"Please talk about why you like genetic breeding of vegetables, and can persist for a long time?"."Talking about this topic may have to follow for a long time, because..."During the interview, Professor Hu Kailin, head of the vegetable genomics and molecular breeding research team of the College of Horticulture, slowly opened up the topic.Intrigued: Finding what you really want to do"The teachers in the Vegetable Genetics and Breeding Department of the Department of Horticulture, South China Agricultural College like the genetic breeding of vegetables for three generations. The first generation is Professor Li Pengfei, the second generation is Professor Wu Dinghua and Associate Professor Fang Muren. Professor Wang Guoping) is already the third generation. Professor Li Pengfei and Professor Wu Dinghua are my master's tutors, Associate Professor Fang Muren is the master's tutor of Associate Researcher Lin Mingbao, and Professor Wu Dinghua is the master's tutor of Professor Wang Guoping. The process of this research team Jiao Wen’s first associate professor was my Ph.D. student. He stayed on to teach at the school in 2016, so I hope that the fourth generation of inheritance can be opened in the future. "Professor Hu Kailin said.

The picture shows Professor Hu KailinMr. Li studied abroad at Penn State University in the United States in his early years. He was one of the domestic vegetable genetics and breeding experts at that time. At that time, the domestic vegetable genetics and breeding community had the saying of'two Lis', that is,'Li Jiawen in the north and Li Pengfei in the south' Mr. Li has devoted his life to vegetable genetics and breeding. He went down to the fields for tomato selection and breeding until he was 90 years old. He successively selected and bred many excellent varieties of cucumber, bitter gourd and tomato and promoted them in Guangzhou and many places in the province. He has made important contributions to the production of vegetables in Guangdong Province. Professor Wu Dinghua is the first'disciple' of Mr. Li Lao-a master student. Associate Professor Fang Muren has worked with Mr. Li Lao for more than 30 years. Under the influence of Mr. Li Lao, the two of them are also He has devoted his whole life to vegetable genetic breeding. Among them, the tomato varieties selected by Professor Wu Dinghua in the 1980s and 1990s were the main tomato varieties grown in many southern provinces, and they were supplied to Hong Kong in large quantities. The carob and kale bred by Mr. Fang Muren in his early years were of very good quality. The eggplant varieties selected in the later stage have long occupied half of the country in many southern provinces. Professor Hu continued.It is precisely because of this kind of ear infection that Hu Kailin described himself and the third generation of other people as like poisoned. Since working, he has fallen in love with vegetable genetics and breeding.The teacher has really had a great influence on us! Hu Kailin added: It is also very fortunate that we can inherit vegetable genetic breeding. We can also find what we really want to do, and we have been doing it for more than 20 years without complaint. regret.Grasping the direction of breeding: combining the basis of genetic breeding and applicationWhat is the relationship between vegetable genetics and breeding and the name of your research team-vegetable genomics?.First of all, genetics is the theoretical basis of vegetable genetic breeding, and the core of genetics research is genes... Professor Hu Kailin opened the topic of professional knowledge.I graduated from the Department of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University in 1984, majoring in vegetables. In 1987, I went to Okayama University to study for a master's and doctorate degree. In 1993, I returned to the Department of Vegetables, School of Plant Science and Technology, China Agricultural University. I was transferred back to South China Agricultural University in 1997. College of Horticulture. Since graduating from a Ph.D., he has been engaged in vegetable genetic breeding.When I first arrived at China Agricultural University, vegetable selection and breeding started in the field, because the human genome research had not yet begun. The concept of'genome' was only a distant and vague concept until the completion of the human genome in 2000. , Arabidopsis genome sequencing, and the completion of rice genome sequencing in 2002. I still did not expect the development of vegetable crop genomes to be so rapid, because sequencing of human genomes brought together the wisdom, manpower and large amounts of funds of scientific researchers from all over the world. With the completion of the whole genome sequencing of a vegetable crop-cucumber, vegetable genomics research has become a'visible fact'. Professor Hu recalled.

Hot pepper breeding base exchangeCan you give us a brief introduction to the team's scientific research history and achievements?Looking back to the past two decades of persisting in the selection and breeding of vegetables in the field, I encountered a variety of difficulties and at the same time enriched myself. Many of the knowledge learned was applied to the field selection and breeding. The selection and breeding experience was added to the teaching class. The two new varieties of bitter gourd that were selected and bred were successively approved by the Guangdong Crop Variety Approval Committee in 2011 and 2018. The most happy thing is that the varieties that I have selected can be obtained in production. Application and increase income for growers. While teaching and scientific research, there is an idea that has always been around:'Why do foreign seed companies have a significant advantage over domestic varieties? What is the gap between domestic and foreign vegetable selection and breeding? And what is the direction of vegetable breeding?’. After a comparative understanding, foreign countries, especially multinational seed industry group companies, are carrying out laboratories (mainly including plant protection and molecular biology) and field breeding cooperation models, precise and rapid breeding New varieties. Therefore, the combination of genetic breeding foundation and application has become a common breeding direction for our team members more than ten years ago. Professor Hu continued.I returned to China in 1993 and started to conduct molecular biology research in Beijing with the Institute of Genetics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1994. It has been exploring the direction of combining the basis of genetic breeding and application. However, due to the comparatively basic research of vegetable crop genetic breeding Weakness and the pitiful little research funding in the past ten years, coupled with the large genome of the selected vegetable crop-pepper and the small domestic germplasm resources and narrow genetic background of bitter gourd have made the research progress slow. With the cucumber genome in 2009 After the sequencing was completed, Professor Wang Guoping, a member of the research team, had the idea of sequencing the tomato genome and my pepper genome. He found the opportunity to participate in 2011 and completed the genome sequencing of tomato and pepper respectively in 2012 and 2014. In 2015, I also led the organization of the South China Agricultural University, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, the World Vegetable Center (World Vegetable Center), the University of California (Davis) and 5 domestic provinces (Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, The whole genome sequencing team of bitter gourd composed of Hunan and Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other units completed the whole genome sequencing of large-fruited cultivated bitter gourd ('Dali 11') and small-fruited wild bitter gourd ('TR'). Re-sequencing of 187 bitter gourd germplasm resources in 16 countries around the world. So far, the three vegetable crops our team has studied have also been built to carry out in-depth molecular breeding like model plants-Arabidopsis and field crops-rice. This is also the relationship between vegetable genetics and breeding and the genome and the origin of our team’s name. In recent years, based on the results of the genome sequencing of three vegetable crops, we are conducting research on the location and cloning of important trait genes in three vegetable crops. It will gradually realize the goal of combining the basis of genetic breeding and application, and selecting new vegetable varieties accurately and quickly. Professor Hu continued with pride and confidence.By precept and deeds: You must have the experience of breeding breeds before you can teach students how to breed in classWhat do you think of teaching?.Since I have chosen a university teacher and vegetable breeding research as my lifelong career, it is my duty to teach Principles of Horticultural Plant Breeding and Vegetable Breeding in the classroom. I must teach these two courses well, if I have never practiced or experienced vegetable selection and breeding. I feel guilty or ashamed. Therefore, this may be the motivation for our team members to insist on field vegetable selection and breeding for a long time. Professor Hu replied.

Hu Kailin instructs students to practice bitter gourd breeding in the fieldWhat are your requirements for training graduate students?.“Now that the university has expanded its enrollment, we don’t expect that every student who learns about agriculture will choose agriculture in the future. We only want those who can go on without complaints and regrets after choosing a path. So, for Undergraduates, it’s normal to study agriculture in the future and possibly engage in non-agricultural work. I went to Japan to study in the early years. This had a great impact on me, because most of the college students in China at that time were still assigned by the state to their counterparts. Work. However, for the graduate students who have expanded their enrollment, what I want to emphasize is that they need to have certain professional ideas, especially doctoral students need to have strong professional ideas. Professor Hu said with a serious tone.“It has been more than 20 years for postgraduate training. About 20 graduate students have graduated with master degree. Many of them are enthusiastic about vegetable breeding. They have become senior breeding experts and breeding backbones in enterprises. The four graduated doctoral students have all worked in colleges and universities. Related to vegetable breeding, there are currently 5 PhD students and 4 master students. I am really happy to see them continue to make achievements in their studies and work, because of the pragmatic agricultural education inherited from Mr. Li Lao. The human spirit has been promoted to a certain extent. The country is based on agriculture, and farmers rely on planting for their livelihood. There is still a lot of room for research on vegetable genetics and breeding. We will continue to go forward firmly. Professor Hu said with satisfaction.