研究团队

全球知名的RNA生物学和植物科学领域专家，美国促进会会士，曾任德州农工大学生物化学与生物理系Christine Richardson讲席教授。他长期致力于植物RNA沉默、RNA二级结构、表观遗传学、转录组修饰及宿主-病毒互作等方向的研究，以唯一通讯作者身份在Cell， Nature，Nat. Plants，Sci. Adv.和Dev. Cell等顶级期刊发表了一系列开创性研究成果，其科研成果被国外媒体报道超过20次，年引用次数700左右。 累计获得超过NIH 和NSF等多个机构1800万美元的科研经费，因其卓越的科研能力，获得了AgriLife Faculty Fellow、Presidential Impact Fellow、Chancellor EDGES Fellow以及早期的NSF CAREER奖等多项荣誉。

1. 在植物中鉴定RNA沉默途径的新组分并开展作用机制研究；

2. 破解RNA二级结构和RNA表观修饰中蕴含的遗传信息与生物学功能；

3. 内禀无序蛋白的功能分析及其转化应用；

4. 通过RNA驱动的合成生物学改良关键农业性状、开发生物技术产品并促进人类健康。

学习经历

1999-2003： 美国康奈尔大学, 植物生物学， 博士

1997-1999： 美国奥本大学, 园艺学，硕士

1991-1994： （北京）中国农业大学, 园艺学, 硕士

1985-1989： 皖南农学院 （合肥经济技术学院）,经济植物学, 本科

工作经历

2023年9月-2025年7月：美国德州农工大学生物化学与生物物理系Christine Richardson 讲席教授

2020年2月-2025年7月：美国德州农工大学生物系双聘教授；

2018年9月-2023年8月：美国德州农工大学生物化学与生物物理系教授；

2014年8月-2018年8月：美国德州农工大学生物化学与生物物理系副教授；

2008年8月-2014年7月：美国德州工大学生物化学与生物物理系助理教授；

2003年9月-2008年7月：美国洛克菲勒大学植物分子生物学博士后

1994年9月-1997年3月：北京市农林业科学研究院

1989年9月-1991年8月：安徽省太湖县农林业推广站

代表性会议经历及其他奖励：

1.2024 ASBP Meeting, Hawaii. June 23–27, 2024.

2.Regulatory & Non-coding RNAs, Cold Spring Harbor. May 14–18, 2024.

3.The 31st Plant and Animal Genome Conference, San Diego. Jan. 12–16, 2024.

4.International Plant Virus Interaction, Hangzhou, China. Oct. 10, 2023.

5.Chinese Society of Biological Investigator Annual Meeting, Las Vegas. Dec. 19–22, 2022.

6.XXXIII Argentinian Meeting of Plant Physiology. Sept. 16–22, 2021.

7.Plant RNA Structure Symposium, John Innes Centre. Sept. 7–9, 2021.

8.Saclay Plant Science conference, University of Paris. Sept. 15, 2020.

9.Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (KSBMB) International Conference, Jeju, Korea. June 3–6, 2019.

10.The 4th National Maize Meeting in China. April 19–21, 2019 (Keynote Speaker).

11. FASEB SRC: Post-transcriptional Control of Gene Expression—Mechanisms of RNA Decay. June 24–29, 2018, Arizona, USA.

12.13th Microsymposium on Small RNAs, Vienna, Austria. June 18–20, 2018.

13.Plant Epigenetics, Signaling and Development Symposium, Shenzhen University. July 29, 2017.

13.XIX International Botanical Congress, Shenzhen, China. July 24, 2017.

14.The 7th International Geminivirus Symposium, Hangzhou, China. Nov. 20, 2014.

15.Posttranscriptional Gene Regulation in Plants, Rhode Island, USA. July 26, 2013.

代表性科研项目：

1. Functions and mechanisms of new components in RNA silencing 2024.2.1 to 2029.1.31 NIH R35GM151976 US $3,498,724 1 (Two R01 merged to one R35; 唯一PI)

2. Roles of SWI/SNF complexes in posttranscriptional processing of RNA 2019.4.1 to 2024. 5.31 NIH R01GM132401 US $1,373,686 (唯一PI)

3. Suppression mechanism of Geminivirus-encoded TrAP protein 2018.12.21 to 2023.11.30 NIH R01GM127742 US $1,537,430 (唯一PI)

4. Pathogenesis Mechanism of Geminivirus-Encoded AL2 2012.2.1-2015.1.31 NIH R21AI097570 US $384,357 (唯一PI)

5. Function and mechanism of Coat protein complex I in RNA silencing 2022.3.1-2026.2.28 NSF Molecular & Cellular Biology(MCB) US $1,100,000 (唯一PI)

6. Roles of the SERRATE protein in regulation of miRNA biogenesis and transposable element silencing in Arabidopsis thaliana 2017.11.15 to 2022.11.14

NSF MCB-1716243 US $880,000 (唯一PI)

7. CAREER: Arabidopsis Argonaute10-protein interactome 2013.6.15 to 2019. 5.14 NSF

MCB-1253369 $1,275,000 (唯一PI)

8. Argonaute-RNA interactome in Arabidopsis 2010.2.1- 2014.1.31 NSF MCB-0951120 $532,909 (唯一PI)

9. Biochemical basis of liquid-liquid phase separation and impact of DSPPL in microRNA production factory 2011.6.1-2026.5.31 Welch Foundation (A-A-2177-20230405), A-173-20180324, MA-1777 $665,000 (唯一PI)

10.Exploring LLPS-featured SAID homologs to improve agricultural traits2023.7.6 to 2028. 7.6HATCH, USDA(TEX08178)$200,000(唯一PI)

1.Zhong, S.L., X., Li, C. Bai, H., Chen, J., Gan, L. Zhu, J. Oh, T., Yan, X., Zhu, J., Li, N., Koiwa, H. Meek, T., Peng, X., Yu, B., Zhang, Z. and Zhang, X., 2024. Reciprocal regulation of m6A modification and miRNA production machineries via phase separation-dependent and -independent mechanisms. Nature Cell Biology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-024-01530-8. (IF in 2023, 17.3; 共同通讯)

2.Li, X*., Zhong, S.*, Li, C., Yan, X., Zhu, J., Li, Y., Wang, Z., Peng, X., and Zhang, X., 2024. RNA helicase Brr2a promotes miRNA biogenesis by properly remodeling secondary structure of pri-miRNAs. Nature Plants. doi: 10.1038/s41477-024-01788-8. PMID: 39271943. (IF in 2023, 15.7;共同通讯)

Li, X. and Zhang, X. The spliceosome factor and RNA helicase Brr2a moonlights in miRNA production. Nature Research Briefing. Oct. 8. 2024 (通讯).

3.Yan X*, Li C*, Liu K, Zhang T, Xu Q, Li X, Zhu J, Wang Z, Yusuf A, Cao S, Peng X, Cai JJ, Zhang X. 2024. Parallel degradome-seq and DMS-MaPseq substantially revise the miRNA biogenesis atlas in Arabidopsis. Nature Plants. doi: 10.1038/s41477-024-01725-9. PMID: 38918606. (IF in 2023, 15.7; 通讯)

Yan, X. and Zhang, X., 2024. Exploring the landscape of miRNA production and the structural rules that shape it. Nature Research Briefing. Volume 10, pages 1060-1061 (通讯).

4.Zhang, T*., Li, C*; Zhu, J*, **., Li, Y., Wang, Z., Tong, C., Xi, Y., Han, Y.; Koiwa, H.; Peng, X., and Zhang, X**. Structured 3' UTRs destabilize mRNAs in plants. Genome Biology. 2024 Feb 22;25(1):54. doi: 10.1186/s13059-024-03186-x.PMID: 38388963. (IF in 2023, 10.1;共同通讯**)

5.Shang, B., Li, C. and Zhang, X. Liquid-liquid phase separation and RNA silencing. Trends Genet. 2024 Jan 30:S0168-9525(23)00284-6. doi:10.1016/j.tig.2023.12.009. PMID: 38296708. (IF in 2023, 13.6; 通讯)

6.Wang, Z., Zhao, C., Tong, C., Castillo-González, C., Li, C., Xie, K., Zhu, J., Jacob, Y., Michaels, S., Jacobsen, S., Peng, X., and Zhang, X. Mutations of histone methyltransferases confer Geminivirus resistance to via retaining DNA repair proteins onto rDNA and defense genes in Arabidopsis. 2023. Nature Comm. Nov 18;14(1):7484. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43311-1 (IF in 2023, 14.7; 通讯)

7.Meehan, J., McDermott, S.M., Ivens, A., Goodall, Z., Chen, Z., Yu, Z., Woo, J., Rodshagen, T., McCleskey, L., Sechrist, R., Stuart, K., Zeng, L., Rouskin, S., Savill, N.J., Schnaufer, A., Zhang, X., Cruz-Reyes, J. Trypanosome RNA helicase KREH2 differentially controls non-canonical editing and putative repressive structure via a novel proposed ‘bifunctional’ gRNA in mRNA A6. Nucleic Acids Res. 2023 May 29:gkad453. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkad453. PMID: 37246647. (IF in 2023, 16.6)

8.Shang, B*., Wang, L.*, Yan, X.*, Li, C., Wu, C. Wang, T., Choi, S., Wang, Z., Peng, X., and Zhang, X. Intrinsically disordered proteins SAID1/2 condensate on SERRATE/ARS2 for dual inhibitions of miRNA biogenesis in Arabidopsis. 2023. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Apr 4;120(14):e2216006120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2216006120. PMID: 36972460. (IF in 2023, 9.4; 通讯)

9.Li X, Li C, Zhu J, Zhong S, Zhu H, and Zhang X. Functions and mechanisms of RNA helicases in plants. J Exp Bot. 2022 Nov 23:erac462. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erac462. PMID: 36416783. (IF in 2023, 7.3; 通讯)

10.Zhu J, Yan X, Zhang X. The R-loop influences miRNA birthplace. Nature Plants. 2022 Apr;8(4):320-321. doi: 10.1038/s41477-022-01124-y. PMID: 35449403. (IF in 2023, 15.7; 通讯)

11.Wang, L.*, Yan, X.*, Li, Y., Wang, Z., Chhajed, S., Shang, B., Wang, Z., Suk Won Choi, S.W., Zhao, H., Chen, S., and Zhang. X. PRP4KA phosphorylates SERRATE for degradation via 20S proteasome to fine-tune miRNA production in Arabidopsis. Science Advances. 2022. 8(12):eabm8435. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abm8435. PMID: 35333566. (IF in 2023, 11.7; 通讯)

12.Sun, D*, Li, Y*, Ma, Z, Yan, X, Li, N, Shang, B, Hu, X, Cui, K, Koiwa, H, and Zhang, X. 2021. The epigenetic factor FVE orchestrates cytoplasmic SGS3-DRB4-DCL4 activities to promote transgene silencing in Arabidopsis. Science Advances. 7(32):eabf3898. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf3898. (IF in 2023, 11.7; 通讯)

13.Sun, D., and Zhang, X. HASTY moves to chromatin for miRNA production. Mol Plant. 2021 Jan 22:S1674-2052(21)00012-5. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2021.01.012. PMID: 33493678. (IF in 2023, 17.1; 通讯)

14.Zhu, J., Li, C., Peng, X., and Zhang, X. Architecture of RNA influences plant biology. J Exp Bot. 2021 Jan 23:erab030. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erab030. PMID: 33484251. (IF in 2023, 7.3; 通讯)

15.Sun, D., Ma, Z., Zhu, J., and Zhang, X. Identification and Quantification of Small RNAs. Methods Mol Biol. 2021;2200:225-254. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0880-7_11. PMID: 33175381(通讯)

16.Li. Y.*, Sun, D.*, Ma, Z., Yamaguchi, K.$, Wang, L, Zhong, S. Yan, X., Shang, B., Nagashima, Y., Koiwa, H., Han, J., Xie, Q., Zhou, M., Wang, Z.**, and Zhang, X.**, 2020. Degradation of Serrate via ubiquitin-independent 20S proteasome to survey RNA metabolism. Nature Plants. 2020 Aug;6(8):970-982. doi: 10.1038/s41477-020-0721-4. (IF in 2023, 15.7; 共同通讯)

17.Hu, T., Huang, C., He, Y., Castillo-González, C.#, Gui, X., Wang, Y., Zhang, X.**, Zhou, X.**. 2019. βC1 protein encoded in geminivirus satellite concertedly targets MKK2 and MPK4 to counter host defense. PLoS Pathog. Apr 18;15(4):e1007728. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1007728. (IF in 2023, 6.7; 共同通讯)

18.Wang, Z*., Wang, Y.*, Wang, T., Zhang, Y.**, and Zhang, X.**. 2019. Genome-wide probing RNA structure with the modified DMS-MaPseq in Arabidopsis. Methods 155:30-40. doi: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2018.11.018. (IF in 2023, 4.2; 通讯)

19.Castillo-Gonzalez, C., and Zhang, X. 2018. The Trojan Horse of the Plant Kingdom. Cell Host & Microbe. 24(1):1-3. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2018.06.015. (IF in 2023, 20.6; 通讯)

20.Ma, Z., Castillo-González, C. #, Wang, Z., Sun, D. #, Hu, X., Shen, X., Potok, M.E., and Zhang, X. Arabidopsis Serrate Coordinates Histone Methyltransferases ATXR5/6 and RNA Processing Factor RDR6 to Regulate Transposon Expression. Developmental Cell. 45(6):769-784.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2018.05.023. (IF in 2023, 10.7; 通讯)

21.Ma, Z., and Zhang, X. 2018. Actions of plant Argonautes: predictable or unpredictable? Curr Opin Plant Biol. 45:59-67. doi: 10.1016/j.pbi.2018.05.007. (IF in 2023, 8.3; 通讯)

22.Wang, Z., Ma, Z.*, Castillo-González, C. #*, Sun, D. #, Li, Y. #, Yu, B., Zhao, B., Li, P., and Zhang, X. 2018. SWI/SNF subunit CHR2 remodels pri-miRNAs via SE to inhibit miRNA production. Nature. 557(7706):516-521. (IF in 2023, 50.5; 通讯). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29769717/

23.Castillo-Gonzalez, C. #, and Zhang, X. 2018. Transactivator: the new face of Arabidopsis AGO1. Developmental Cell. 44(3): 277-279 (IF in 2023, 10.7; 通讯)

24.Mei, Y., Yang, X., Huang, C#., Zhang, X., and Zhou, X. 2018. Tomato leaf curl Yunnan virus-encoded C4 induces cell division through enhancing stability of Cyclin D 1.1 via impairing NbSKη -mediated phosphorylation in Nicotiana benthamiana. PLoS Pathog. 14(1): e1006789. (IF in 2023, 6.7)

25.Zhang, X. 2017. Tough GC beats transgene silencing. Nature Plants. 2017 Nov; 3(11): 850-851. doi: 10.1038/s41477-017-0048-y. (IF in 2023, 15.7;通讯)

26.Fukudome, A., Sun, D#. Zhang, X., and Koiwa, H. 2017. Salt-stress and CTD phosphatase-like 4 mediate transcriptional switching of snRNA to mRNA in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell. 2017 Nov 1. pii: tpc.00331.2017. doi: 10.1105/tpc.17.00331. (IF in 2023, 10)

27.Zhang, Z.*, Hu F.* #, Sung, M. W#., Shu, C, Castillo, C. #, Koiwa, H., Dickman, M., Li, P.** and Zhang, X.**. 2017. RISC-Interacting Clearing 3'- 5' Exoribonucleases (RICEs) degrade uridylated cleavage fragments to maintain functional RISC in Arabidopsis. eLife. doi: 10.7554/eLife.24466 (the paper was favorably reviewed as “tour de force” work). (IF in 2023, 6.6; 通讯)

28.Zhang, Z.*, Guo, X.*, Ge, C#*., Ma, Z., Jiang, M. #, Li, T., Koiwa H., Yang, S.K., and Zhang, X. 2017. KETCH1 (Karyopherin Enabling the Transport of the Cytoplasmic HYL1) imports HYL1 to nucleus for miRNA biogenesis in Arabidopsis. PNAS. 114(15):4011-4016. (IF in 2023, 9.4; 通讯)

29.Li, S*., Castillo-Gonzalez, C*#., Yu, B**., and Zhang, X. 2017. The functions of plant small RNAs in development and in stress responses. Plant J. 90(4):654-670 (IF in 2023, 6.2; 共同通讯)

30.Zhang, Z.*, Liu, X.*, Guo, X., Wang, X-J.** and Zhang, X. 2016. Arabidopsis AGO3 predominantly recruits 24-nt small RNAs to regulate epigenetic silencing. Nature Plants. 16049 (2016) doi:10.1038/nplants.2016.49 (Featured paper). (IF in 2023, 15.7; 通讯)

31.Zhou, Y., Honda, M., Zhu, H., Zhang, Z., Guo, X., Li, T., Li, Z., Peng, X., Nakajima, K., Duan, L., and Zhang X. 2015. Spatiotemporal Sequestration of miR165/166 by Arabidopsis Argonaute10 Promotes Shoot Apical Meristem Maintenance. Cell Report. S2211-1247. (IF in 2023, 7.5; 通讯)

32.Wang, T., Castillo-González, C. #, You, L., Li, R., Wen, L., Zhu, H. **, and Zhang, X.**. 2015. In vitro reconstitution assay of miRNA biogenesis by Arabidopsis DCL1. Bio-protocol 5(8):e1454.(共同通讯)

33.Castillo-González, C., Liu, X., Huang, C., Zhao, C., Hu, T., Sun, F$., Ma, Z., Zhou, Y., Zhou, X., Wang, X., and Zhang, X. 2015. Geminivirus-encoded TrAP suppressor inhibits the histone methyltransferase SUVH4/KYP to counter host defense. eLife. 2015 Sep 7;4. doi: 10.7554/eLife.06671. (selected by Nature for research highlight). (IF in 2023, 6.6; 通讯)

34.Williams, B., Njaci, I. #, Moghaddam, L., Long, H., Dickman, M., Zhang, X., and Mundree, S.**. 2015. Trehalose Accumulation Triggers Autophagy during Plant Desiccation. PLoS Genet. 2015 Dec 3;11(12):e1005705.( IF in 2023, 4)

35.Zhu, H., Zhou, Y., Castillo, C. #, Lu, A$., Zhao, Y., Duan, L., Li, Z., Wang, XJ and Zhang, X. 2013. Bidirectional processing of pri-miRNAs with branched terminal loops by Arabidopsis Dicer-like1. Nature Struc. Mol. Biol. 20:1106-1115 (Cover Story). (IF in 2023, 12.5; 通讯)

36.Zhang, Z. and Zhang, X. 2012. Argonautes fight for miRNAs to regulate stem cell activity in plants. Curr. Opin Plant Biol. 15:652-658 (Cover). (IF in 2023, 8.3; 通讯)

37.Zhu, H.*, Hu, F.* #, Wang, R.*, Zhou, X., Sze, S., Liou, L. $, Barefoot, A. $, Dickman, M.,and Zhang, X. 2011. The Arabidopsis Argonaute 10 specifically recruits miR166/165 to maintain shoot apical meristem. Cell. 145:242-256. (Featured article; Top 5 Cell paperflick in 2011). (IF in 2023, 45.6; 通讯) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21496644/