Dr Yunbi Xu, molecular maize breeder/senior scientist, the head of Applied Biotechnology Center, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), Mexico. Yunbi got all his education in China including B.S. from Huazhong (Central China) Agricultural College in agronomy in 1982, and MS (1985) and PhD (1993) from Zhejiang Agricultural University in genetics and plant breeding. Yunbi was an assistant and associate professor and the Deputy Director of Department of Agronomy, Zhejiang Agricultural University (1985 to 1995), the Rockefeller Foundation Postdoctoral Scientists at Cornell University (1995-1998), molecular breeder at RiceTec, Inc., Texas, for hybrid rice breeding (1998-2003), research associate scientist at Cornell University for genomics of water use efficiency in rice (2003-2006). Yunbi’s research fields are genetics and plant breeding including molecular marker development, germplasm evaluation, QTL mapping, marker-assisted selection, and molecular breeding, with focus on rice (1982-2006) and maize (2006-). His publications include over 90 referred journal articles, book chapters and conference papers, and two books (Molecular Quantitative Genetics, China Agriculture Press, 1994; Molecular Plant Breeding, CABI Publisher, 2009). He is an editor for three international journals (Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Molecular Breeding, and International Journal of Plant Genomics) and two Chinese journals (Acta Agronomica Sinica and Chinese Journal of Agricultural Science).

Selected publications

Articles

Xu, Yunbi, D. This, R. C. Pausch, Wendy M. Vonhof, J. R. Coburn, J. P. Comstock, S. R. McCouch. 2009. Water use efficiency determined by carbon isotope discrimination in rice: genetic variation associated with population structure and QTL mapping. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 118:1065–1081.

Gao, Shibin, Carlos Martinez, Debra J. Skinner, Alan F. Krivanek, Jonathan H. Crouch, and Yunbi Xu. 2008. Development of a seed DNA-based genotyping system for marker-assisted selection in maize. Molecular Breeding 22:477-494.

Xu, Yunbi and Jonathan H. Crouch. 2008. Marker-assisted selection in plant breeding: from publications to practice. Crop Science 48:391-407.

Dwivedi S. L., Jonathan H. Crouch, David J. Mackill, Yunbi Xu, Matthew W. Blair, Michel Ragot, Hari D. Upadhyaya and Rodomiro Ortiz. 2007. The molecularization of public sector crop breeding: progress, problems and prospects. Advances in Agronomy 95:163-318.

Xu, Yunbi, Susan R. McCouch and Qifa Zhang. 2005. How can we use genomics to improve cereals with rice as a reference genome? Plant Molecular Biology 59:7-26.

Xu, Yunbi, Henry Beachell, and Susan R. McCouch. 2004. A marker-based approach to broadening the genetic base of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in the U.S. Crop Science 44:1947-1959.

Xu, Yunbi. 2003. Developing marker-assisted selection strategies for breeding hybrid rice. Plant Breeding Reviews 23:73-174.

Xu, Yunbi. 2002. Global view of QTL: Rice as a model. p.109-134. In: M. S. Kang (ed), Quantitative Genetics, Genomics, and Plant Breeding. CAB International.

Xu, Yunbi. 1997. Quantitative trait loci: separating, pyramiding, and cloning. Plant Breeding Reviews 15:85-139.

Books

Xu, Yunbi. 2009. Molecular Plant Breeding. CABI Publisher, UK. 640pp.

Xu, Yunbi and Lihuang Zhu. 1994. Molecular Quantitative Genetics (in Chinese). China Agriculture Press, Beijing, China. 291pp.