Dr. Quan Xie

No. 666, Binjiang Avenue

Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 211800, China

Phone: +86 25 8439 6024

E-mail: quanxie@njau.edu.cn

Education & Professional Position

I obtained my PhD in Crop Science from the University of Nottingham, UK, in 2015. I act currently as an Associate Professor and 

Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Genetics and Breeding at the State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm 

Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University.

Research Interests

My research lies at the intersection of wheat molecular genetics and genomics, with two main focuses: 

(1) deciphering the molecular genetic basis of high yield and ideal plant architecture; 

(2) mining superior alleles and applying molecular design breeding for wheat improvement.

Funding

I currently lead multiple projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), National Key Research 

and Development Program, Jiangsu Provincial Key R&D Program, Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation, and the Jiangsu Innovation 

Fund for Agricultural Science and Technology. I have been selected for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) 

Program for Outstanding Overseas Scholars, and the Jiangsu Provincial High-Level Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talent Program.

Selected Research Grants:

1. NSFC Special Program for Biotech Breeding: Mining and breeding utilization of high-yield genes of spelt wheat

2. NSFC Young Scientists Fund: Fine mapping and superior allele mining of QTLs for wheat grain development

3. National Key R&D Program: Gene mining for high quality, high yield and disease resistance in wheat

4. National Key R&D Program: Evaluation and utilization of genes co-regulating yield and quality in wheat

5. Jiangsu Key R&D Program: Multi-omics study on quality formation and regulation in specialty wheat

6. Jiangsu Innovation Fund for Agricultural Science and Technology: Targeted molecular design of novel wheat founder parent

7. Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation: Cloning and superior haplotype mining of the wheat grain weight QTL QGw.nau-1B

8. Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation: Fine mapping and functional mechanism of a grain weight QTL of wheat

9. Jiangsu High-Level Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talent Program: Wheat genetics and breeding

10. MOHRSS Outstanding Overseas Scholars Grant: Fine mapping and effect evaluation of the wheat major QTL QTgw.uon-3B

11. Nanjing Municipal Overseas Scholars Innovation Grant: Cloning and industrial application of wheat yield genes

12. Central University Basic Research Fund: Molecular basis of wheat Ppd-1 photoperiod genes regulating yield and plant architecture plasticity

13. Central University Basic Research Fund: Fine mapping and allele mining for grain development QTLs in wheat

Selected Publications:

1. Shi J, Kong Z, Zhong J, Zhang X, Luo X, Wang H, Xu B, Wang X, Cheng R, Yuan Y, Li N, Xie Q, Li G, Jia H, Ma Z (2025) Mutagenesis and 

analysis of contrasting wheat lines do not support a role for PFT in Fusarium head blight resistance. Nature Genetics, 57:310–313.

2. Yao Q, Chen B, Lohani MN, Chen Q, Wang T, Chen J, Wang C, Zhang H, Lu L, Habib A, Ma J*, Xie Q*. Genetic identification and characterizationof putatively novel, stable, and validated loci for plant height in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). BMC Genomics, 2026, 27: 347

3. Lohani MN, Su L, Lu L, Yin L, Liu Y, Xu Q, Jiang Y, Jiang Q, Chen G, Wei Y, Liu C, Xie Q*, Ma J*. Genetic identification 

and characterization of novel loci for flag leaf morphology traits in Chinese endemic wheat. The Plant Genome, 2026, 19: e70245

4. Xie Q, Sparkes DL (2021) Dissecting the trade-off of grain number and size in wheat. Planta, 254: 3.

5. Yang Y, Kong Z, Xie Q, Jia H, Huang W, Zhang L, Cheng R, Yang Z, Qi X, Lv G, Zhang Y, Wen Y, Ma Z (2023) Fine mapping of KLW1 that 

conditions kernel weight mainly through regulating kernel length in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 136: 110.

6. Han YZ, Zhang Y, Yang Y, Gu ZZ, Wu K, Xie Q*, Kong ZX, Jia HY, Ma ZQ. Evaluation of the effects of wheat plant height QTL Qph.nau-5B.

 Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2021, 47(6): 1188–1196.

7. Ma Z, Xie Q, Li G, Jia H, Zhou J, Kong Z, Li N, Yuan Y (2020) Germplasms, genetics and genomics for better control of disastrous wheat 

Fusarium head blight. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 133: 1541–1568.

8. Yao H, Xie Q*, Xue S, Luo J, Lu J, Kong Z, Wang Y, Zhai W, Lu N, Wei R, Yang Y, Han Y, Zhang Y, Jia H, Ma Z (2019) 

HL2 on chromosome 7D of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) regulates both head length and spikelet number. Theoretical and Applied 

Genetics, 132: 1789–1797.

9. Xie Q, Li N, Yang Y, Lv Y, Yao H, Wei R, Sparkes DL, Ma Z (2018) Pleiotropic effects of the wheat domestication gene Q on yield and 

grain morphology. Planta, 247: 1089–1098.

10. Xie Q, Fernando KMC, Mayes S, Sparkes DL (2017) Identifying seedling root architectural traits associated with yield and yield 

components in wheat. Annals of Botany, 119: 1115–1129.

11. Cheng R, Kong Z, Zhang L, Xie Q, Jia H, Yu D, Huang Y, Ma Z (2017) Mapping QTLs controlling kernel dimensions in a wheat inter-varietal 

RIL mapping population. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 130: 1405–1414.

12. Xie Q, Mayes S, Sparkes DL (2016) Optimizing tiller production and survival for grain yield improvement in a bread wheat x spelt 

mapping population. Annals of Botany, 117: 51–66.

13. Xie Q, Mayes S, Sparkes DL (2016) Early anthesis and delayed but fast leaf senescence contribute to individual grain dry matter 

and water accumulation in wheat. Field Crops Research, 187: 24–34.

14. Xie Q, Mayes S, Sparkes DL (2016) Preanthesis biomass accumulation of plant and plant organs defines yield components in wheat. 

European Journal of Agronomy, 81:15–26.

15. Xie Q, Mayes S, Sparkes DL (2015) Carpel size, grain filling and morphology determine individual grain weight in wheat. 

Journal of Experimental Botany, 66: 6715–6730.

16. Xie Q, Mayes S, Sparkes DL (2015) Spelt as a genetic resource for yield component improvement in bread wheat. Crop Science, 

55: 2753–2765.