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Wei Siao Assistant Professor

  • E-mail: weisiao@ntu.edu.tw

  • Phone: (02) 3366-2529

  • Specialty：Plant Cell Biology; Vesicle trafficking; Root growth and tropisms

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  • Education​​

Ph.D. University of Bonn, Germany 2016

M.S.   National Taiwan University, Taiwan 2012

B.S.    National Taiwan University, Taiwan 2007​

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  • Experience

Postdoc RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Postdoc VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, Belgium

Postdoc Academia Sinica, Taiwan

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  • Award

Yushan Young Fellow

DAAD PhD scholarship

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Job Opportunity

We are seeking motivated individuals who are passionate about science to join our team. Available positions include:

 

Master’s, PhD, and Postdoctoral Positions. Graduate students interested in studying plant vesicle trafficking, endocytosis and root tropisms are encouraged to apply. Please feel free to contact me for further discussion.

 

Undergraduate Opportunities. Undergraduate students interested in internships, special topics, summer research, or part-time research assistance are invited to reach out to discuss potential projects.

Recent research topics

  • Phospho-regulation of endocytosis and root behavior

  • Root hydrotropism, touch response, stress avoidance and communication

  • Plant ER-PM contact sites

Overview

When in need of food, water, or when environmental conditions become challenging, animals forage, hunt, or flee. However, plants, being fixed in place, have developed significant resilience and unique nutrient-searching behaviors. The Siao group studies the mechanisms that underlie this adaptability during root growth and development.

 

Plants adapt to their environment through high growth flexibility, capable of adjusting their development and physiological functions in response to environmental changes. They can also change their growth direction, develop new organs, or regenerate tissues. Much of this developmental flexibility is regulated by plant hormones. Our team explores how plant cells integrate environmental stimuli and endogenous signals through endomembrane system transport. Using a multidisciplinary approach that includes molecular biology, developmental and cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, and mathematical modeling, we focus on studying protein transport, cell polarity, endocytosis, and signaling mechanisms related to root behavior and tropism. Through these studies, we aim to gain deeper insights into the regulatory processes of plant development, demonstrating how environmental signals are integrated into plant signaling pathways, leading to changes in growth and development.

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Team members

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Wei Siao – Group leader

 

After completing his studies in Taiwan, Wei pursued his PhD at the University of Bonn in Germany, focusing on synaptotagmin 1 (SYT1) and VAP27-1 at ER-PM contact sites in Arabidopsis. He returned to Taiwan for his first postdoc at Academia Sinica in Paul Verslues' lab, where he investigated drought signaling of various cytoskeleton- and vesicle-associated proteins. Wei then moved to Belgium to join Jenny Russinova at the VIB, where he built the protein interactome of adaptor protein complexes involved in endocytosis. Later, he joined Marco Trujillo's team at RWTH Aachen in Germany, developing strategies for targeted protein degradation (TPD) in plants. In 2024, Wei became an assistant professor at NTU, leading research on plant stress responses and intracellular trafficking.

Kai-Chun Peng - Postdoc

 

Kai-Chun Peng obtained his Ph.D. from the Institute of Plant Biology at National Taiwan University, where he focused on studying the interaction between phyB-mediated photophysiology and FIN219-mediated defense responses in Hsieh Hsu-Liang's laboratory. Currently, in Wei Siao‘s group, his research is focused on intracellular membrane trafficking. By tracking the molecules' migration between different organelles and analyzing their distribution on membranes, he investigates how membrane molecule dynamics influence root morphology development and mechanosensing in plants.

Publications

  1. Erika Isono, Jianming Li, Pablo Pulido, Wei Siao, Steven H Spoel, Zhishuo Wang, Xiaohong Zhuang, Marco Trujillo. (2024) Protein degrons and degradation: Exploring substrate recognition and pathway selection in plants. The Plant Cell koae141 DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koae141

  2. Wei Siao, Xiuyang Zhao, Peng Wang, Dominique Eeckhout, Geert D Jaeger, Eugenia Russinova. (2023) Phosphorylation of ADAPTOR PROTEIN-2 μ-adaptin by ADAPTOR-ASSOCIATED KINASE1 regulates the tropic growth of Arabidopsis roots. The Plant Cell 35(9): 3504–3521. DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koad141

  3. Kai-Chun Peng, Wei Siao, Hsu-Liang Hsieh. (2023) FAR-RED INSENSITIVE 219 and phytochrome B co-repress shade avoidance via modulating nuclear speckle formation. Plant Physiology 192(2): 1449-1465. DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiad103

  4. Peng Wang¥, Wei Siao¥*, Xiuyang Zhao, Deepanksha Arora, Ren Wang, Dominique Eeckhout, Rahul Kumar, Anaxi Houbaert, Nancy De Winne, Evelien Mylle, Michael Vandorpe, Ruud A. Korver, Christa Testerink, Kris Gevaert, Steffen Vanneste, Geert De Jaeger, Daniël Van Damme, Eugenia Russinova*. (2023) Adaptor protein complex interaction map in Arabidopsis identifies P34 as a common stability regulator. Nature Plants 9(2):355-371. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-022-01328-2 ¥Equal contribution. *Correspondence.

  5. Rui Miao¥, Wei Siao¥, Na Zhang, Zuliang Lei, Deshu Lin, Rishikesh P. Bhalerao, Congming Lu, Weifeng Xu. (2022) Katanin-Dependent Microtubule Ordering in Association with ABA Is Important for Root Hydrotropism. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23(7): 3846. DOI: 10.3390/ijms23073846   ¥Equal contribution.

  6. Derui Liu, Rahul Kumar, Lucas A N Claus, Alexander J Johnson, Wei Siao, Isabelle Vanhoutte, Peng Wang, Kyle W Bender, Klaas Yperman, Sara Martins, Xiuyang Zhao, Grégory Vert, Daniël Van Damme, Jiří Friml, Eugenia Russinova. (2020) Endocytosis of BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 Is Partly Driven by a Canonical Tyr-Based Motif. The Plant Cell 32(11): 3598-3612. DOI: 10.1105/tpc.20.00384

  7. Wei Siao¥, Devrim Coskun¥, František Baluška, Herbert J. Kronzucker, Weifeng Xu. (2020) Root-Apex Proton Fluxes at the Centre of Soil-Stress Acclimation. Trends in Plant Science 25(8):794-804. DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2020.03.002 ¥Equal contribution.

  8. Wei Yuan, Ying Li, Luocheng Li, Wei Siao, Qian Zhang, Yingjiao Zhang, Jianping Liu, Weifeng Xu, Rui Miao. (2018) BR-INSENSITIVE1 regulates hydrotropic response by interacting with plasma membrane H+-ATPases in Arabidopsis. Plant Signaling and Behavior 13:8. DOI: 10.1080/15592324.2018.1486147

  9. Wei Siao, Pengwei Wang, Boris Voigt, Patrick J. Hussey, Frantisek Baluska. (2016) Arabidopsis SYT1 Maintains Stability of Cortical ER Networks and VAP27-1-Enriched ER-PM Contact Sites. Journal of Experimental Botany 67 (21): 6161-6171. DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erw381

  10. Ján Jásik, Karol Mičieta, Wei Siao, Boris Voigt, Stanislav Stuchlík, Elmon Schmelzer, Ján Turňa,  František Baluška (2016) Actin3 Promoter Reveals Undulating F-Actin Bundles at Shanks and Dynamic F-Actin Meshworks at Tips of Tip-Growing Pollen Tubes. Plant Signaling and Behavior 11(3): e1146845 DOI: 10.1080/15592324.2016.1146845

  11. Hui Wang¥, Shengcheng Han¥, Wei Siao¥, Chunqing Song¥, Yun Xiang, Xiaorong Wu, Pengyu Cheng, Hongjuan Li, Ján Jásik, Karol Mičieta, Ján Turňa, Boris Voigt, František Baluška¥, Jin Liu, Yingdian Wang, Heping Zhao¥. (2015) Arabidopsis Synaptotagmin 2 Participates in Pollen Germination and Tube Growth and Is Delivered to Plasma Membrane via Conventional Secretion. Molecular Plant 8(12): 1737-1750. DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2015.09.003 ¥Equal contribution.

  12. Wei Siao, Jia-Yi Chen, Hui-Hsin Hsiao, Ping Chung, Shu-Jen Wang. (2011) Characterization of OsSUT2 expression and regulation in germinating embryos of rice seeds. Rice 4(2): 39-49. DOI: 10.1007/s12284-011-9063-1

  13. Shiang-Lin Liu, Wei Siao, Shu-Jen Wang. (2010) Changing sink demand of developing shoot affects transitory starch biosynthesis in embryonic tissues of germinating rice seeds. Seed Science Research 20(03):137-144. DOI: 10.1017/S0960258510000115

  14. Jia-Yi Chen, Shiang-Lin Liu, Wei Siao, Shu-Jen Wang. (2010) Hormone and sugar effects on rice sucrose transporter OsSUT1 expression in germinating embryos. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum 32(4):749-756. DOI: 10.1007/s11738-009-0459-0

Courses Taught

  • Plant Physiology

  • General Biology

  • Seminar

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