Yajun Wang

Personal Profile

Education

2007-2014  Ph.D, Institute of Botany,Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)

2003-2007  B.Sc, College of Plant Protection, Shandong Agricultural University

Professional Experience

2023 to present  Principle investigator, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Science (CEMPS)/Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

2018-2023      Post-doctoral fellow, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

2014-2018      Post-doctoral fellow, Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Wageningen, Netherlands

Research Work

Based on the experimental results, research materials and technological innovations in our previous research, our group will focus on the nonhost resistance of Triticeae plants against wheat rust and powdery mildew from the following aspects: 1) Using techniques such as MutIsoSeq and map-based cloning, to clone nonhost resistance genes against wheat rust and powdery mildew from resistant wheat germplasm carrying alien-introgressed resistance genes, barley, rye, and other materials; 2) By studying the functions of novel nonhost disease resistance genes and proteins, to reveal the molecular mechanisms of nonhost resistance from the perspectives of protein interaction and molecular recognition; 3) By using technologies of biological breeding to stack nonhost resistance genes into a specific position of the wheat genome, and create new wheat germplasms with broad spectrum to major wheat diseases is created by simulating nonhost resistance.

Main Achievements

 

Publications

1.He, H.*, Chen, Z., Fan, R., Zhang, J., Zhu, S., Wang, J., Zhang, Q., Gao, A., Gong, S., Zhang, L., Li, Y., Zhao, Y., Krattinger, S. G., Shen, Q. Li, H. & Wang, Y. * (2024). A kinase fusion protein from Aegilops longissima confers resistance to wheat powdery mildew. Nature Communications, in press.

 

2. Abrouk, M., Wang, Y., Cavalet-Giorsa, E., Troukhan, M., Kravchuk, M., & Krattinger, S. G.* (2023). Chromosome-scale assembly of the wild wheat relative Aegilops umbellulata. Scientific Data, 10(1), 739.

 

3. Wang, Y., Abrouk, M., Gourdoupis, S., Koo, D.-H., Karafiatova, M., Molnar, I., Holusovs, K., Dolezel, J., Athiyannan, N., Cavalet-Giorsa, E., Jaremko, L., Poland, J., & Krattinger, S. G.* (2023). An unusual tandem kinase fusion protein confers leaf rust resistance in wheat. Nature Genetics, 55(6), 914-920.

 

4. Athiyannan, N., Aouini, L., Wang, Y., & Krattinger, S. G.* (2022). Unconventional R proteins in the botanical tribe Triticeae. Essays in Biochemistry, 66(5), 561-569.

 

5. Bukhamsin, A., Moussi, K., Patel, N., Przybysz, A., Wang, Y., Krattinger, S. G., & Kosel, J.* (2020). Impedimetric Plant Biosensor Based on Minimally Invasive and Flexible Microneedle Electrodes. 2020 IEEE 33rd International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS).

 

6. Wang, Y., Subedi, S., de Vries, H., Doornenbal, P., Vels, A., Hensel, G., Kumlehn, J., Johnston, P. A., Qi, X., Blilou, I., Niks, R. E.*, & Krattinger, S. G.* (2019). Orthologous receptor kinases quantitatively affect the host status of barley to leaf rust fungi. Nature Plants, 5(11), 1129-1135.

 

7. Yeo, F. K., Wang, Y., Vozabova, T., Huneau, C., Leroy, P., Chalhoub, B., Qi, X. Q., Niks, R. E.*, & Marcel, T. C.* (2016). Haplotype divergence and multiple candidate genes at Rphq2, a partial resistance QTL of barley to Puccinia hordei. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 129(2), 289-304.

 

8. Wang, L., Wang, Y., Wang, Z., Marcel, T. C., Niks, R. E., & Qi, X.* (2010). The phenotypic expression of QTLs for partial resistance to barley leaf rust during plant development. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 121(5), 857-864.