My lab focuses on seed adaptation to environments, especially to those extreme or unpredictable environments, such as wilde fires and saline deserts. 

Currently, most of our efforts have been devoted to exploring smoke-promoted seed germination.

Welcome to join our lab.

Various positions are open for application, including post-docs and research assistants.

Please make sure you have read the requirements in our recruitment information before sending your admission request.

Assistant Features Editor of Plant Physiology;

Guest Editor of Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution;

Young Editorial Board member of Chinese Journal of Ecology;

Peer Reviewers for Plant Physiology, New Phytologist, Fire Ecology, Trees, etc.

For full list, please see the ORCID.

1. Cao Dechang*. 2024 Decapping NAD-RNAs: TIR domain-containing proteins stand out for specificity. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibs.2024.04.004.

2. Zhao Bixi, Yan Yuxi, Cao Dechang*, Xia Yu*. 2024 Germinating rice seeds shape rhizospheric bacteria via releasing benzaldehyde. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 210: 108632.

3. Oliveira Dyoni M, Cao Dechang*. 2024 Spotlight on overlooked lignin monomers: Hydroxycinnamaldehydes. Plant Physiology, 194: 1250-1252.

4. Cao Dechang*. 2024 Cross-specific imprinting tells the seed size of hybrids. Plant Physiology, 10.1093/plphys/kiae154.

5. Cao Ddechang*. 2024 RNA-directed DNA methylation as a weapon in parental conflict. Plant Physiology, 194: 1931-1933.

6. 许宏力, 田亮, 杨晓菲, 聂强, 曹德昌*. 2024 烟促种子萌发研究新进展. 生态学杂志: 1-12.

7. Yang Xiaofei, Cao Dechang*. 2023 DXO gears mRNA with alternative NAD and m7G caps. Trends in Plant Science, 28: 1083-1085.

8. Cao Dechang, Baskin Jerry M., Baskin Carol C., Li De-Zhu*. 2023 Burning lignin: overlooked cues for post-fire seed germination. Trends in Plant Science, 28: 386-389.

9. Cao Dechang, De Jaeger-Braet Joke*. 2023 Modulating microRNA expression to produce bigger seeds. Plant Physiology, 193: 2251-2253.

10. Cao Dechang*. 2023 Something seedy going on: HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN90.6 links carbon and nitrogen metabolism in seed development. Plant Physiology, 192: 705-706.

11. Cao Dechang*. 2023 “Smother love” of mycorrhiza: Hypoxic germination of orchids. Plant Physiology, 192: 2240-2242.

12. Cao Dechang*. 2023 Stress-induced tRNA fragments take action in alternative splicing in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology, 193: 877-879.

13. Cao Dechang*. 2022 Thank you for smoking: Potential of biochar in sustainable agriculture. Matter, 5: 3571-3573.

14. Cao Dechang*. 2022 FREE1 takes its position in peroxisomal engulfment of lipid droplets. Plant Cell, 34: 4122–4123.

15. Cao Dechang*. 2022 To germinate or not? Transcriptional gradients underlie the seed dormancy continuum. Plant Physiology, 190: 1559–1561.

16. Cao Dechang, Schöttner Matthias, Halitschke Rayko, Li Dapeng, Baldwin Gundega, Rocha Catarina, Baldwin Ian T. 2021 Syringaldehyde is a novel smoke-derived germination cue for the native fire-chasing tobacco, Nicotiana attenuata. Seed Science Research, 31: 292-299.

17. Cao Dechang*, Baskin Carol C., Baskin Jerry M. 2020 Dormancy class: Another fire seasonality effect on plants. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 35: 1055-1057.

18. Cao Dechang, Xu Huimin, Zhao Yuanyuan, Deng Xin, Liu Yongxiu, Soppe Wim, Lin Jinxing. 2016 Transcriptome and degradome sequencing reveals dormancy mechanisms of Cunninghamia lanceolata seeds. Plant Physiology, 172: 2347-2362.

19. Cao Dechang, Baskin Carol C., Baskin Jerry M., Yang Fan, Huang Zhenying. 2014 Dormancy cycling and persistence of seeds in soil of a cold desert halophyte shrub. Annals of Botany, 113: 171-179.

20. Cao Dechang, Li Jingwen, Huang Zhenying, Baskin Carol C., Baskin Jerry M., Hao Peng, Zhou Weilei, Li Junqing. 2012 Reproductive characteristics of a Populus euphratica population and prospects for its restoration in China. PLoS ONE, 7: e39121.

21. Cao Dechang, Baskin Carol C., Baskin Jerry M., Yang Fan, Huang Zhenying. 2012 Comparison of germination and seed bank dynamics of dimorphic seeds of the cold desert halophyte Suaeda corniculata subsp. mongolica. Annals of Botany, 110: 1545-1558.

Conference Presentation (Oral)

1.      A novel smoke-derived seed germination cue for the post-fire annual Nicotiana attenuata. ISSS 2021: Seed Innovation System for the 21^st Century. August, 2021. London, UK.

2.      Dormancy cycling and soil seed bank dynamics of two halophytes inhabiting a saline desert in north China. The 4th International Society for Seed Science Meeting on Seeds and the Environment. June, 2013. Shenyang, China.

Conference Presentation (Poster)

1.      2017. Another germination cue in smoke. XIX International Botanical Congress. Shenzhen, China.