Xinguang Zhu

Personal Profile

Dr. Xinguang Zhu graduated in 2004 from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC). After working as postdoctoral scientist and research assistant professor in UIUC for about four years, Dr. Zhu has been working as a principle investigator in Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) since 2008. Between 2008 till 2017, he was in CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology; since 2017 till now he is in Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (Now Center of Excellence for Molecular Plant Sciences), both belonging to Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Zhu also holds adjunct Professor positions in Hunan Agricultural University, State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, and IGB of UIUC etc. He serves on the editorial boards of Plant Cell and Environment, Frontiers in Plant Physiology, Royal Society Open Sciences, Plant Communication etc. He is a founding editor of in silico Plant and a member of Faculty1000.

Research Work

 

Main Achievements

Dr. Zhu's research focuses on developing novel approaches to improve crop photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency. He identified a number of options to improve photosynthetic efficiency, including faster recovery from photoprotective status under fluctuating light, re-optimization of enzymes in the Calvin Benson Cycle, etc. His work has won him the 2013 Melvin Calvin Andrew Benson Award from ISPR. Dr. Zhu's lab now focus on two projects, one being understanding the evolutionary process of C4 photosynthesis from C3 photosynthesis with the goal of repeating C4 photosynthesis in current crops, the second being developing multi-scale systems models of photosynthesis, spanning metabolism, cellular, leaf, canopy up until ecosystems scales, with the goal of identifying new options to improve crop photosynthetic efficiency. Many of the identified options are now under testing in crop species, especially in rice. Recently, Dr. Zhu's lab initiated a new project aims to develop systems models of primary metabolism on single-cell prokaryotic and eukaryotic algae systems, with the goal of identifying guiding principles of engineering primary metabolism for increased productivity of high value product. 

Publications

1.  Mingnan Qu, Jemaa Essemine, Jianlong Xu, Guljannat Ablat, Shahnaz Perveen, Hongru Wang, Kai Chen, Yang Zhao, Genyun Chen*, Chengcai Chu*, Xin-Guang Zhu* (2020) Alterations in stomatal response to fluctuating light increase biomass and yield of rice under drought conditions. Plant Journal. (https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.15004).
2.  Mingnan Qu, Jemaa Essemine, Ming Li, Shuoqi Chang, Tiangen Chang, Gen-Yun Chen and Xin-Guang Zhu*(2020), Genome-Wide Association Study Unravels LRK1 as a Dark Respiration Regulator in Rice (Oryza sativa L.), International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(14):4930(https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21144930).
3.  Tiangen Chang, Qingfeng Song, Honglong Zhao, Shuoqi Chang, Changpeng Xin, Mingnan Qu, Xin-Guang Zhu* (2020) An in situ approach to characterizing photosynthetic gas exchange of rice panicle. Plant Method. 16:92(https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-020-00633-1).
4.  Jemaa Essemine, Ming-Ju Amy Lyu, Mingnan Qu, Shahnaz Perveen, Naveed Khan, Qingfeng Song, Genyun Chen and Xin-Guang Zhu*(2020), Contrasting Responses of Plastid Terminal Oxidase Activity Under Salt Stress in Two C4 Species With Different Salt Tolerance. Frontiers in Plant Science, 11(https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.01009).
5.  Ming-Ju Amy Lyu, Yaling Wang, Jianjun Jiang, Xinyu Liu, Genyun Chen and Xin-Guang Zhu*, What Matters for C4 Transporters: Evolutionary Changes of Phosphoenolpyruvate Transporter for C4 Photosynthesis, Frontiers in Plant Science, 2020, 11(https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00935).
6.  Shahnaz Perveen, Mingnan Qu, Faming Chen, Jemaa Essemine, Naveed Khan,,Ming-Ju Amy Lyu, Tiangen Chang, Qingfeng Song, Gen-Yun Chen, and Xin-Guang Zhu*(2020), Overexpression of maize transcription factor mEmBP-1 increases photosynthesis, biomass, and yield in rice. Journal of Experimental Botany, 71(16):4944-4957. (https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa248).
7.  Xin-Guang Zhu*, Donald R. Ort, Martin A.J. Parry and Susanne von Caemmerer*(2020), A wish list for synthetic biology in photosynthesis research, Journal of Experimental Botany, 71(7):2219–2225, (https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa075).
8.  Qingfeng Song, Venkatraman Srinivasan, Stephen P Long, Xin-Guang Zhu. Decomposition analysis on soybean productivity increase under elevated CO2 using 3D canopy model reveals synergistic effects of CO2 and light in photosynthesis. Annals of Botany, (https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcz163).
9.  Zai Shi#, Tiangen Chang#, Genyun Chen, Qingfeng Song, Yanjie Wang, Zhiwei Zhou, Mengyao Wang, Baoshan Wang* and Xin-Guang Zhu*. Systems model driven dissecion of mechanisms for high yield in two elite rice cultivars. Field Crop Research 241, (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2019.107563).
11. Saber Hamdani#, Hongru Wang, Guangyong Zheng, Shahnaz Perveen, Mingnan Qu, Naveed Khan, Waqasuddin Khan, Jianjun Jiang, Ming Li, Xinyu Liu, Xiaocen Zhu, Govindjee, Chengcai Chu* and Xin-Guang Zhu*, Genome-wide association study identifies variation of glucosidase being linked to natural variation of the maximal quantum yield of photosystem II, Physiologia Plantarum, 2019, 166: 105–119, (https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.12957).
12. Mingnan Qu, Guangyong Zheng, Jemaa Essmine, Saber Hamdani, Qingfeng Song, Hongru Wang, Chengcai Chu, Xavier Sirault and Xin-Guang Zhu. Leaf photosynthetic parameters related to biomass accumulation in a global rice diversity panel. Plant Physiology, 175:248-258 (https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.17.00332).
13. Yi Xiao and Xin-Guang Zhu (2017) Component of mesophyll resistance and their environmental responses. Plant Cell and Environment, 40: 2729-2742. (https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.13040).
14. Qingfeng Song, Yu Wang, Mingnan Qu, Donald R Ort, Xin-Guang Zhu. The impact of modifying photosystem antenna size on canopy photosynthetic efficiency.  Plant Cell and Environment 40:2946-2957. (https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.13041).
15. Rebecca A Slattery, Andy VanLoocke, Carl J Bernacchi, Xin-Guang Zhu, Donald R Ort (2017) Photosynthesis, light use efficiency, and yield of reduced-chlorophyll soybean mutants in field conditions. Frontiers in Plant Science, 8, (https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.00549).
16. Tian-Gen Chang and Xin-Guang Zhu (2017) Source sink interaction: a century old concept under the light of modern molecular systems biology. Journal of Experimental Botany. (https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erx002).