Dr. Chuansheng Mei joined IALR in 2007 and was promoted to Chief Scientist in Plant Endophyte Research Center in 2019. Mei has been working on beneficial bacterial endophytes for more than 15 years. Mei was awarded a DOE/USDA Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy grant from 2010- 2014 for a project – Developing a low input and sustainable switchgrass feedstock production system utilizing beneficial bacterial endophytes and studied mechanisms under which bacterial endophytes promote bioenergy crop switchgrass growth. Recently, Mei helped establish a bacterial endophyte library of more than 2000 strains isolated from plants grown in various environments. Mei develops various assay methods, and his team has characterized their ability to produce IAA, ACC deaminase, and siderophores, to fix nitrogen, and to solubilize insoluble phosphate compounds. Mei focuses on plant growth promotion by bacterial endophytes and discovered that some endophytes greatly improved the growth of tall fescue KY31 in vitro, up to an 8-fold increase compared with untreated control plants. With support from USDA Specialty Crop Block Grants, his team is working on lettuce and spinach growth promotion and pathogen inhibition by bacterial endophytes in hydroponic systems. One bacterial endophyte, Pseudomonas psychrotolerans has extensively promoted lettuce and spinach plant growth in hydroponic systems. Mei earned his bachelor’s degree in botany and master’s in plant physiology from Nanjing Agricultural University and his Ph.D. in plant molecular biology and genetic engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Skillsets
- Molecular Biology Techniques – DNA and RNA isolation; PCR and real time PCR; Western blot analysis; ELISA; General enzyme activity assay; protein expression in bacteria and purification; DNA sequence analysis; GUS assay; plant hormone jasmonic acid isolation and quantification with GC-MS; plant growth regulators for growth and stress test.
- Microbial Characterization – N-fixation assay; P solubilization assay; siderophore production assay; auxin production assay; ACC deaminase activity assay; bacterial colonization bioassay.
- Plant Tissue Culture and Micropropagation – A large-scale Miscanthus x giganteus micropropagation technique; Rice anther culture.
- Plant Transformation Techniques – Gene cloning; Vector construction; dsRNA interference; biolistic and Agrobacterium transformation techniques; rice, maize, switchgrass, alfalfa, and tobacco transformation.
- Chemical Analysis Techniques – Familiar with analytic chromatographic techniques, such as GC, HPLC, and GC-MS.
Recent Publications
- Chretien RL, Burrell E, Evans MR, Lowman S, Mei C. 2024. ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid) deaminase producing endophytic bacteria improve hydroponically grown lettuce in the greenhouse during summer season. Scientia Horticulturae 327:112862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2024.112862
- Amaradasa BS, Mei C, He Y, Chretien RL, Doss M, Durham T, Lowman S. 2024. Biocontrol potential of endophytic Pseudomonas strain IALR1619 against two Pythium species in cucumber and hydroponic lettuce. Plos One 19(2):e0298514. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0298514
- Mei C, Zhou D, Chretien RL, Turner A, Hou G, Evans MR, Lowman S. 2023. A potential application of Pseudomonas psychrotolerans IALR632 for lettuce growth promotion in hydroponics. Microorganisms 11, 376. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/2/376
- Mei C, Amaradasa BS, Chretien RL, Liu D, Snead G, Samtani JB, Lowman S. 2021. A Potential Application of Endophytic Bacteria in Strawberry Production. Horticulturae 7(11):504. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7110504
- Mei C, Chretien RL, Amaradasa BS, He Y, Turner A, Lowman S. 2021. Characterization of phosphate solubilizing bacterial endophytes and plant growth promotion in vitro and in greenhouse. Microorganisms 9(9):1935. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9091935
- Mei C, Amaradasa S, Sikaroodi M, Zhang X, Gillevet P, Nowak J and Lowman S. 2021. Potential application of plant growth promoting bacteria in bioenergy crop production. In: Microbiome Stimulants for Crops. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822122-8.00014-5.
- Amaradasa BS, Turner A, Lowman S, Mei C. 2020. First report of southern blight caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in industrial hemp in southern Virginia. Plant Dis 104(5):1563.
- Kearl J, McNary C, Lowman JS, Mei C, Aanderud ZT, Smith ST, West J, Colton E, Hamson M, Nielsen BL. 2019. Salt-tolerant halophyte rhizosphere bacteria stimulate growth of alfalfa in salty soil. Front Microbiol 10:1849. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01849
- Zhou D, Mei C, Chretien RL, Amaradasa S, South K, Lowman S, Evans MR. Growth promotion and disease control of hydroponic spinach utilizing beneficial bacterial endophytes. Oral presentation in American Society of Horticultural Sciences annual meeting held in Chicago, IL, 7/30/2022- 8/3/2022.
Recent Invited Presentations
- Invited to participate in a Symposium on Endophytic Microbes for Crop Nutrition: Reality or Myth? hosted by Gates Foundation in Seattle, WA, May 2023
- Bacterial endophyte application in CEA. CEA in the next 20 years hosted by USDA and NASA in Toledo, OH, June 2023
- Improvement of Lettuce Production and Disease Inhibition in Hydroponic Systems Utilizing Beneficial Bacterial Endophytes. US Biostimulants Summit, Raleigh, North Carolina, July 2023
- Plant Growth Promotion and Disease Inhibition Utilizing Beneficial Bacterial Endophytes. 7th Partnerships in Biocontrol, Biostimulants & Microbiome Congress: Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, October 2023
- Characterization of Bacterial Endophyte Library and Their Applications. ACI US Biostimulants Summit 2021, April 2021, Raleigh, NC, USA
