Biography

Dr. Ainong Shi is a faculty member in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Arkansas. His research laboratory specializes in plant breeding and genetics, particularly focusing on vegetable crops such as arugula, cowpea, and spinach for cultivar and germplasm development and release. Dr. Shi and his team conduct genetic mapping and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify SNP markers associated with major genes and QTLs for various agronomic, abiotic, and biotic traits across a range of crops including arugula, beans (cowpea, common bean, and soybean), spinach, and tomato. They employ advanced sequencing techniques including whole genome sequencing and resequencing (WGS, WGR), ddRADseq, and Gegotyping by Sequencing (GBS).

To date, Dr. Shi has secured over 30 research grants totaling more than $9.6 million as the Principal Investigator (PI) or a co-PI from various funding agencies such as the USDA NIFA-SCRI, SCMP, OREI, CPPM, SCBGP, and CGC, with approximately $3.37 million being allocated to his lab. With a rich background in genetic breeding spanning 30 years of classic breeding and 20 years of molecular breeding, Dr. Shi has dedicated his expertise to the improvement of field crops like rice, wheat, and soybeans, as well as vegetables such as spinach, arugula, cowpeas, and green beans, with a primary focus on genetic research related to biotic and abiotic stress factors. As a senior author or co-author, he has published 166 research articles in over 40 peer-reviewed scientific journals including BMC Genomics, Crop Science, Frontiers in Plant Science, Euphytica, Horticulture Research, HortScience, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Plant Disease, PLoS ONE, Scientific Reports, The Plant Genome, and Theoretical and Applied Genetics. Furthermore, he has filed for five patents, with 20 filings awarded.

USDA NIFA SCRI SPINACH Disease Breeding Project Website:

https://spinachdb.org