Department of Applied Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Chonnam National University.
Major
Plant Molecular Physiology, Bioengineering of plant secondary metabolites, Haploid breeding.
Email
mpizlee(at)jnu.ac.kr
Short Bibliography
Ok Ran Lee graduated from Pai-Chai University in the department of Horticulture in 1996 as an honor graduate. In 1998 she obtained her MSc with a dissertation that dealt with the tissue-specifically expressed genes in lily using DDRT-PCR. Then, she moved to Max-Planck-Institute for Plant Breeding in Germany for her PhD in the Department of Genetics, and studied flower development regulating B-function gene DEFICIENCE in Anthrrihinum under supervision of Prof. Heinz Saedler. After completing her PhD in 2002, she joined Purdue University in the USA as a postdoctoral fellow. There, she worked on auxin transport and phytoremediation, focusing on the role of ABCB-type ABC transporters. She then spent several years at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute in the USA and POSTECH in Korea, using cell biological approaches to study plasmodesmata transport of macromolecules and intracellular trafficking. In 2006, she joined Chungnam National University and later Seoul National University, where she explored the role of secretory phospholipases in regulating PIN-FORMED polar auxin transport. From 2009 to 2013, she expanded her research to the medicinal ginseng plant, investigating the main regulatory factors of secondary metabolite production. Since 2013, Ok Ran Lee has been a faculty member at Chonnam National University, progressing from assistant to full professor. She leads the Special Crop Science Laboratory (SCSL), where she advances research in plant molecular genetics and physiology, focusing on plant (haploid) breeding and the regulatory mechanisms of secondary metabolite biosynthesis. The SCSL employs genome editing, biochemical methods, and plant tissue culture techniques to explore these areas of interest and make groundbreaking discoveries.
To date, Ok Ran Lee has made several groundbreaking discoveries, including the synergistic role of PIN-FORMED and P-glycoproteins (ABCB-type ABC transporters) in auxin transport (Blakeslee, Bandyopadhyay, and Lee et al., 2007, Plant Cell; cited 538 times). She has also identified a novel regulatory role for secretory-type phospholipase A2 in PIN-FORMED protein function (Lee et al., 2010, Plant Cell). More recently, she contributed as a corresponding author to research on "haploid inducer" genes for haploid seed production in Arabidopsis and japonica rice (Jang et al., 2023, New Phytologist; Jang et al., 2023, Plant Physiology). She also discovered the novel function of biosynthetic genes in triterpene ginseng saponin biosynthesis (Kim et al., 2014), contributing as a corresponding author.
Educations
1998 - 2002 Ph.D. in Mathematical-Natural Science University of Cologne and in the Department of Molecular Plant Genetics in Max-Planck-Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany
1996 - 1998 M.S. in Agriculture (Plant molecular biology) Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea
1992 - 1996 B.S. in Agriculture Pai-Chai University, Daejeon, Korea
Work experince
2013 - present: Assistant, Associate, and Full professor at Chonnam National University
2009 - 2013: Research Professor at Kyung Hee University: Ginseng gene expression and defense mechanism, Ginsenoside biosynthesis
2008 - 2009: Postdoctoral Researcher at Seoul National University: Auxin signaling and transporting mechanism in root hair cell system
2006 - 2008: Postdoctoral Researcher at Chungnam National University: Auxin signaling and transporting mechanism in root hair cell system
2006 - 2006: Senior Researcher at POSTECH; Cell biology for the trafficking study of plant proteins
2005 - 2006: Postdoctoral Research Staff at Delaware Biotechnology Institute, USA
2004 - 2005: Postdoctoral Research Staff in the Department of Horticulture/ Phytoremediation center at Purdue University, Indiana, USA, (PI: Prof.Dr. David E. Salt and Prof. Dr. Angus S. Murphy). Major project: Auxin transport and Phytoremediation using p-glycoproteins, ABC transporters.
2002 - 2003: Postdoctoral Research Staff in the Department of Horticulture at Purdue University, Indiana, USA (PI: Prof.Dr. Angus S. Murphy).
Invited Presentation
2011 The 2nd International Conference on Plant Metabolism (June 30-July 3), Quingdao, China. Triterpenoid ginseng saponin production in Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer
2017 International Symposium and Annual Meeting of the Korean Society for Applied Biological Chemistry (June 15), Busan, Korea. Title: Regulatory mechanism and functional characterization of ginseng saponin biosynthesis-related genes in a plant system.
2019 KSBS & SABRAO International Conference (July 02-July 05) 14th International Conference on Plant Breeding for Sustainable Development. Kimdaejung Convention Center, Gwangju, Korea. Title: Ginsenoside biosynthesis and its regulation in Panax ginseng Meyer.
2019 8th Asian-Oceanian Symposium on Plant Lipids (Nov.18-Nov.22), Canberra, Australia. Title: Patatin-related phospholipase AIIIα regulates longitudinal cell growth and confers virus resistance in Arabidopsis when overexpressed.
2022 Conference of Korean Society of Breeding Science (June 29-July 01), Jeju, Korea. Title: In vivo haploid induction system in dicotyledonous plant.
Honors
1996 Honors graduate award, Pai-Chai Universiyt, Daejeon, Korea.
1997 DAAD scholarship for Korean-German Exchange Student Program (KOSEF/DAAD).
2015 23rd Hwa-nong award (given to young distinguished scientists in basic agricultural science) from Seoul National University.
