Professor Mee-Len CHYE

	Address	(Office & Lab):	7S/13 Kadoorie Biological Sciences Buiding, University of Hong Kong (HKU)
	Phone	(Office):	(852) 2299 0319
		(Lab):	(852) 2299 0321
	Fax		(852) 2858 3477
	Email		mlchye@hku.hk
	Web		http://www.biosch.hku.hk/ staff/mlc/mlc.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Education

	1986	Ph.D.	University of Melbourne, Australia
	1981	B.Sc. (1st class honours)	University of Malaya, Malaysia

 

 

 

Position

• Wilson and Amelia Wong Professor in Plant Biotechnology, HKU
• Associate Dean, Graduate School, HKU

 

Research Interests

• Arabidopsis acyl-CoA-binding proteins (ACBPs), plant lipids, and stress tolerance
• plant isoprenoid metabolism
• Expression of siRNAs and heterologous proteins in genetically-transformed plants

 

Representative Publications (*corresponding authors)

• Du ZY, Chen MX, Chen QF, Xiao S and *Chye ML. (2013) Arabidopsis Acyl-CoA-Binding Protein ACBP1 participates in the regulation of seed germination and seedling development. Plant Journal74: 294-309.
• Xiao S and *Chye ML. (2011) Overexpression of Arabidopsis acyl-CoA-binding protein enhances NPR1-dependent plant resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Plant Physiology 156: 2069-2081.
• Xiao S and *Chye ML. (2011) New roles for acyl-CoA-binding proteins in plant development, stress responses and lipid metabolism. Progress in Lipid Research 50: 141-151.
• Meng W, Su YCF, Saunders RMK and *Chye ML. (2011) The rice ACBP gene family: phylogeny, expression and functional analysis. New Phytologist 189: 1170-1184.
• Xiao S, Gao W, Chen QF, Chan SW, Zheng SX, Ma J, Wang M, Welti R and *Chye ML. (2010) Overexpression of Arabidopsis acyl-CoA-binding protein ACBP3 promotes starvation-induced and age-dependent leaf senescence. Plant Cell 22: 1463-1482.
• Gao W, Li HY, Xiao S and *Chye ML. (2010) Acyl-CoA-binding protein 2 binds lysophospholipase 2 and lysoPC to promote tolerance to cadmium-induced oxidative stress in transgenic Arabidopsis. Plant Journal 62: 989-1003.
• Chen QF, Xiao S, Qi W, Mishra G, Ma J, Wang M and *Chye ML. (2010) The Arabidopsis acbp1acbp2 double mutant lacking acyl-CoA-binding proteins ACBP1 and ACBP2 is embryo lethal. New Phytologist 186: 843-855. [Accompanied by Commentary pp. 781-783.]
• Du ZY, Xiao S, Chen QF and *Chye ML. (2010) Depletion of the membrane-associated acyl-CoA-binding protein ACBP1 confers freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 152: 1585-1597.
• Chen QF, Xiao S and *Chye ML. (2008) Overexpression of Arabidopsis 10-kD acyl-CoA-binding protein ACBP6 enhances freezing-tolerance. Plant Physiology 148: 304-315.
• Xiao S, Gao W, Chen QF, Ramalingam S and *Chye ML. (2008) Overexpression of membrane-associated acyl-CoA-binding protein ACBP1 enhances lead tolerance in Arabidopsis. Plant Journal 54: 141-151.

 

Research Grants as PC/PI

• 2013-2016, Research Grants Council (RGC) Grant “Arabidopsis acyl-CoA-binding proteins in plant growth and development”
• 2011-2014, RGC Grant “Roles of Arabidopsis acyl-CoA-binding proteins and interactors in plant lipid metabolism including cuticular lipid biosynthesis”
• 2007-2010, RGC Grant “Investigations on stress-inducible Arabidopsis ACBPs”
• 2005-2007, RGC Grant “Subcellular localization of three Arabidopsis ACBPs”
• 2004-2006, RGC Grant “Functional analysis of novel Arabidopsis ACBPs containing kelch motifs”

 

Awards

• 2013: Eileen Mary Harris Scholarship
• 2011: Wilson and Amelia Wong Endowed Professorship in Plant Biotechnology 
• 2007/08: Croucher Senior Research Fellowship, The Croucher Foundation
• 2006/07: Outstanding Reseacher Award, HKU
• 2004/05: Edward Clarence Dyason Universitas 21 Fellowship, University of Melbourne

 

Professional Activities

• Editor: Planta (Springer)
• Editorial Board: Botanical Studies (Academia Sinica)
• Review Editor: Frontiers in Plant Physiology (Frontiers Journals) and Frontiers in Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity (Frontiers Journals)
• Ad hoc Reviewer: Grants (National Science Foundation, USA; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (Canada); Austrian Science Fund; National Science Center, Poland)

 

Others
Patents Awarded

• *Chye ML and Zhao KJ. Genetically modified plants with enhanced resistance to fungal disease and a method of production thereof. US Patent No. 6,956,147 issued Oct 18, 2005; Chinese Patent ZL02822987.8 issued Oct 14, 2009
• *Chye ML, Xu ZF and Sin SF. Genetically modified plants expressing proteinase inhibitors SaPIN2a or SaPIN2b, and methods of use thereof for the inhibition of trypsin- and chymotrypsin-like activities. US Patent No. 7,256,327 issued Aug 14, 2007
• *Chye ML, Xiao S and Wei G. Methods in using transformed plants expressing plant-derived acyl-CoA-binding proteins in phytoremediation. US Patent No. 7,880,053 issued Feb 1, 2011; Chinese Patent No. ZL200810142835.5 issued Aug 3, 2011
• *Chye ML, Xiao S and Chen QF. Methods in using acyl-CoA-binding proteins to enhance low-temperature tolerance in genetically modified plants. US Patent No. 8,378,172 issued Feb 19, 2013