Yingjie Xiao

This study identifies cellular and genetic changes in maize and teosinte ears, showing how cytokinin signaling and transcription factor expression differences drive cob thickening and increased kernel number during domestication.

The paper develops a theoretical framework to analyze heterosis by estimating QTL effects and applies it to maize and rice datasets, finding dominance primarily drives heterosis in both.

The paper analyzes chromatin accessibility in 214 maize inbred lines using ATAC-seq, identifies variation in accessible chromatin regions, and links them to gene expression and complex traits.

This study identifies QTLs and genetic factors influencing phenotypic plasticity in maize traits across different environments, improving prediction accuracy for key agronomic traits.