We are happy to support applications for PhD and post-doctoral fellowships through the National Taiwan University and National Science and Technology Council.
Louis Grillet, Assistant Professor
Education
2009–2012 Ph.D., Laboratory of Plant Molecular Biology and Physiology, INRAE, Montpellier, France – Advisor: Dr. Stéphane Mari
2007–2009 Master’s Degree in Plant Biology (University of Rennes, France).
2006–2007 Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and Biochemistry (University of Nantes, France).
Professional experience
2020–now Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University
2013–2020 Postdoc, Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica Advisor: Dr. Wolfgang Schmidt
RESEARCH INTERESTS
As sessile organisms, plants cannot move to escape adverse conditions. They instead attempt to modify their immediate environment by secreting metabolites. A typical example of this lies in the nutrition in essential trace metal elements such as iron, zinc and copper. While these elements are generally present in sufficient amount in soils, their solubility is low, causing problems of deficiencies that are deleterious for crop yield. As an adaptation, plants evolved to secrete molecules that can enhance the bioavailability of these elements, in particular iron. The ability of plants to efficiently acquire iron at high pH is the major determinant of their calcicole behavior. Interestingly, the inability to grow in such conditions can be rescued by the presence of a calcicole neighboring plant, demonstrating that in these iron-scarce conditions, plants collaborate rather than compete. We are interested in understanding the physiological and biochemical effect of root-secreted molecules, a small subset of the hundreds thousands metabolites produced by plants.
We study different plant species for different purposes. Our current models are mungbean, rice and Arabidopsis for the speed and access to molecular biology tools. Different species secrete different molecules and we are interested in understanding how plant can interact with each other in the field. Working on crops also allows us to translate our findings into applications that can hopefully prove useful for agriculture.
LAB MEMBERS
Amanda Yan-Tzi Huang
Lab Manager
Lisa En-Jung Hsieh
Post-doc
Francis Xiao-Wei Liao
Master's student
Ching-Yuan Zhang
Master's student
Leo Chu-Han Cheng
Master's student
Alex Shu-Jong Chang
Master's student
Jimmy Chau-Chun Liu
Master's student
Pauline Christina
Undergraduate student
Yvonne Kartolo
Undergraduate student
PUBLICATIONS
- Castro Rodríguez R, Escudero V, Reguera M, Gil Díez P, Quintana J, Prieto RI, Kumar RK, Brear E, Grillet L, Wen J, Mysore KS, Walker EL, Smith PMC, Imperial J, González Guerrero M. (2021) Medicago truncatula Yellow Stripe-Like7 encodes a peptide transporter required for symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Plant, Cell & Environment, 44(6):1908-1920.
- Clemens S, Eroglu S, Grillet L, Nozoye T. (2021) Metal Transport in Plants. Frontiers in Plant Science, 12:304.
- Grillet L, Schmidt W. (2019) Iron acquisition strategies in land plants: not so different after all. New Phytologist, 224:11-18.
- Grillet L, Lan P, Li W, Mokkapati G, Schmidt W. (2018) IRON MAN is a ubiquitous family of peptides that control iron transport in plants. Nature Plants, 4:953-963.
- Grillet L, Schmidt W. (2017) The multiple facets of root iron reduction. Journal of Experimental Botany 68:5021-5027.
- Flis P, Ouerdane L, Grillet L, Curie C, Mari S, Lobinski R. (2016) Inventory of metal complexes circulating in plant fluids: a reliable method based on HPLC coupled with dual elemental and high resolution molecular mass spectrometric detection. New Phytologist 211:1129-1141.
- Grillet L, Ouerdane L, Flis P, Hoang MTT, Isaure MP, Lobinski R, Curie C, Mari S. (2014) Ascorbate Efflux as a New Strategy for Iron Reduction and Transport in Plants. Journal of Biological Chemistry 289:2515- 2525.
- Grillet L, Mari S., Schmidt W. (2013) Iron in seeds – loading pathways and subcellular localization. Frontiers in Plant Science 4:535.
- Roschzttardtz H, Grillet L, Isaure MP, Conejero G, Ortega R, et al. (2011) Plant Cell Nucleolus as a Hot Spot for Iron. Journal of Biological Chemistry 286:27863-27866.
- Gravot A, Grillet L, Wagner G, Jubault M, Lariagon C, et al. (2011) Genetic and physiological analysis of the relationship between partial resistance to clubroot and tolerance to trehalose in Arabidopsis thaliana. New Phytologist 191:1083-1094.
FORMER MEMBERS
Jenny Zheng-Lin Kuo
Undergraduate student
Eric Bao-Xiu Luo
Successfully graduated
LAB ACTIVITIES
National Taiwan University, Department of Agricultural Chemistry.
No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, Taiwan 106
Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Metabolites 