Weihua Tang

Personal Profile

2006- Principal Investigator at Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology/CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences

2004-2006 Visiting Scientist in Signal Transduction, Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. DuPont

2000-2004 Postdoctoral Fellow, Plant Gene Expression Center and Department of Plant and Microbial Biology,University of California at Berkeley

1999 PhD Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology, Chinese Academy of Science

1993 B.S. Fudan University

Research Work

Her research interests are molecular interactions between tip-growing cells and their surrounding plant cells, using pollen tube of flowering plants and the fungal phytopathogen Fusarium graminearum as two model systems. Currently her lab is dissecting signaling mechanisms and molecular machinery underlying tomato pollen tube fast growth to achieve fertilization, as well as elucidating spatiotemporal-specific molecular cellular interactions during F. graminearum invading host plants to cause wheat Fusarium headblight and maize Gibberella stalk rot diseases.

Main Achievements

To comprehensively elucidate molecular interactions between F. graminearum – wheat/maize by cellular tracking and specific gene profiling during infection, with the tool of laser microdissection (Tang et al., 2006), my lab profiled three early infection stages of F. graminearum, when it was invading wheat seedling coleoptiles, and elucidated the fungus initiated with covert invading and switched to overt destruction at a later phase, involving ROS manipulation (Zhang et al., 2012; Yao et al., 2016). We analyzed the transcriptomes at eight stages of maize stalk infection, showed that F. graminearum grows first intercellularly and later intracellularly, and experimentally validated that it remodels membrane lipids to overcome the phosphate limitation in the intercellular space, revealing a novel pathogenic strategy (Zhang et al., 2016). During the past five years, my lab identified nine more effector molecules with diverse nature and working manner from F. graminearum, including a secreted ROS scavenging enzyme KatG2, two non-ribosomal peptides fusaoctaxin A and fusaoctaxin B, and six fungal surface CFEM domain-containing proteins, significantly increased our list of known effectors (Guo et al., 2019; Jia et al., 2019; Tang et al., 2021; Zuo et al., 2022). We further proved that fusaoctaxins are novel type of effector metabolites, which enable Fusarium hyphae spread in wheat by cell-to-cell manner, through inhibiting wheat cell wall enforcement. Our results show that, in maize, a cell surface immune receptor ZmWAK17 mediates stalk rot resistance and that F. graminearum delivers apoplastic CFEMs to compromise ZmWAK17-mediated resistance (Zuo et al., 2022). We also identified a ROS scavenging catalase-peroxidase named KatG2, which increases expression at very early stage in infecting wheat and maize. The protein relocates to hyphal surface when fungal hyphae enter host cells, and makes significant contribution in lower the ROS level in infected tissue at the very early infection stage to facilitate fungal growth in host cells (Guo et al., 2019). With the identification of this effector, we show pathogen is capable of manipulating overall ROS levels in infected tissues.

 

In dissecting mechanisms of pollen tube growth, we demonstrated that LeSTIG1 promotes in vivo pollen tube growth by binding to phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate and the extracellular domain of LePRK2, and elevating overall redox levels in pollen tubes (Huang et al., 2014); we also show that surface accumulation of LePRK1 can rewire pollen tube growth to a slower mode analogous to yeast budding through Ca²⁺-dependent interactions between KPP and the actin-bundling protein PLIM2a (Gui et al., 2014). We addressed the question how actin cytoskeleton organization is wired to the leading edge plasma membrane to achieve cell growth. We show that the ROP guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) KPP functions as a rheostat in controlling growth speed of pollen tubes by linking the branched actin nucleator ARP2/3 complex and actin bundlers to the membrane-localized receptors LePRKs and ROP-GTPases (Liu et al., 2020). KPP is capable of integrating different machinery parts to reach balance in leading edge advancing.

Publications

1. Zuo N, Bai WZ, Wei WQ, Yuan TL, Zhang D, Wang YZ*, Tang WH* (2022) Fungal CFEM effectors negatively regulate a maize wall-associated kinase by interacting with its alternatively spliced variant to dampen resistance. Cell Rep. 41(13):111877. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111877

 

2. Tang Z, Tang H, Wang W, Xue Y, Chen D, Tang W*, Liu W* (2021) Biosynthesis of a new fusaoctaxin virulence factor in Fusarium graminearum relies on a distinct path to form a guanidinoacetyl starter unit priming nonribosomal octapeptidyl assembly. J Am Chem Soc. 143(47):19719-19730. doi:10.1021/jacs.1c07770

 

3. Ma B, Zhang L, Gao Q, Wang J, Li X, Wang H, Liu Y, Lin H, Liu J, Wang X, Li Q, Deng Y, Tang W*, Luan S*, He Z* (2021) A plasma membrane transporter coordinates phosphate reallocation and grain filling in cereals. Nat Genet. 53(6), 906–915. doi: 10.1038/s41588-021-00855-6.

 

4. Zhang E#, Zhang H#, Tang WH*(2021) Transcriptomic Analysis of Wheat Seedling Responses to the Systemic Acquired Resistance Inducer N-Hydroxypipecolic Acid. Frontiers in Microbiology 12:621336

 

5. Fan P, Aguilar E, Bradai M, Xue H, Wang H, Rosas-Diaz T, Tang W, Wolf S, Zhang H, Xu L, Lozano-Durán R*. (2021) The receptor-like kinases BAM1 and BAM2 are required for root xylem patterning. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 118(12): e2022547118.

 

6. Liu HK#, Li YJ#, Wang SJ, Yuan TL, Huang WJ, Dong X, Pei JQ, Zhang D, McCormick S, Tang WH*. (2020) Kinase Partner Protein Plays a Key Role in Controlling the Speed and Shape of Pollen Tube Growth in Tomato. Plant Physiol. 184(4):1853-1869. doi: 10.1104/pp.20.01081.

 

7. Jia LJ#, Tang HY#, Wang WQ#, Yuan TL, Wei WQ, Pang B, Gong XM, Wang SF, Li YJ, Zhang D, Liu W*, Tang WH* (2019) A linear nonribosomal octapeptide from Fusarium graminearum facilitates cell-to-cell invasion of wheat. Nat Commun. Feb 25;10(1):922.

 

8. Guo Y, Yao S, Yuan TL, Wang Y, Zhang D, Tang WH*. (2019) The spatiotemporal control of KatG2 catalase-peroxidase contributes to the invasiveness of Fusarium graminearum in host plants. Mol Plant Pathol. May;20(5):685-700. doi: 10.1111/mpp.12785. (cover image)

 

9. Zhang L, Cenci A, Rouard M, Zhang D, Wang YY*, Tang WH*, Zheng SJ* (2019). Transcriptomic analysis of resistant and susceptible banana corms in response to infection by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4. Scientific Reports 9(1): 8199. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44637-x

 

10. Li YJ, Pei JQ, Tang WH* (2019) What took you so long? Peptide-receptor kinase signaling mediates reproductive isolation in plants. Sci. Bulletin 64:1390-1392

 

11. Zhang, L., Yuan, T., Wang, Y., Zhang, D., Bai, T., Xu, S., Wang, Y., Tang, W. Zheng, S-J* (2018) Identification and evaluation of resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4 in Musa acuminata Pahang Euphytica 214: 106

 

12. Yuan TL, Huang WJ, He J, Zhang D*, Tang WH*. (2018) Stage-specific gene profiling of germinal cells helps delineate the mitosis/meiosis transition. Plant Physiol. 176 (2) 1610-1626

 

13. Barberini ML, Sigaut L, Huang W, Mangano S, Juarez SPD, Marzol E, Estevez J, Obertello M, Pietrasanta L, Tang W, Muschietti J. (2018) Calcium dynamics in tomato pollen tubes using the Yellow Cameleon 3.6 sensor. Plant Reprod. 31(2):159-169

 

14. Xie, Q-N. Jia, L-J. Wang, Y-Z., Song, R-T., Tang, W-H* (2017) High-resolution gene profiling of infection process indicates serine metabolism adaptation of Fusarium graminearum in host, Science Bulletin, 62:758-760

Yao, S-H., Guo, Y., Wang, Y-Z., Zhang, D., Xu, L., Tang, W-H.* (2016) A cytoplasmic Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase SOD1 contributes to hyphal growth and virulence of Fusarium graminearum, Fungal Genetics and Biology, 91:32-42

 

15. Zhang, Y., He, J., Jia, L-J., Yuan, T-L., Zhang, D., Guo, Y., Wang, Y., Tang, W-H.* (2016) Cellular Tracking and Gene Profiling of Fusarium graminearum during Maize Stalk Rot Disease Development Elucidates its Strategies in Confronting Phosphorus Limitation in the Host Apoplast. PLoS Pathogens 12(3): e1005485.

 

16. Jia, L-J, and Tang, W-H* (2015) The omics era of Fusarium graminearum: opportunities and challenges. New Phytol. 207(1):1-3

 

17. Gui CP, Dong X, Liu HK, Huang W, Zhang, D, Wang S, Barberini ML, Gao X, Muschietti J, McCormick S, and Tang W-H* (2014) Overexpression of the tomato pollen receptor kinase LePRK1 rewires pollen tube growth to a blebbing mode. Plant Cell 26: 3538–3555

 

18. Huang, W-J., Liu, H-K., McCormick, S., Tang, W-H.* (2014) Tomato Pistil Factor STIG1 Promotes in Vivo Pollen Tube Growth by Binding to Phosphatidylinositol 3-Phosphate and the Extracellular Domain of the Pollen Receptor Kinase LePRK2. Plant Cell. 26: 2505–2523

 

19. Liu, X., Zhang, X., Tang, W-H., Chen, L., and Zhao, X.-M.* (2013) eFG: an electronic resource for Fusarium graminearum. Database (Oxford); doi: 10.1093/database/bat042

 

20. Lu, T., Zhu, C., Lu, G., Guo, Y., Zhou, Y., Zhang, Z., Zhao, Y., Li, W., Lu, Y., Tang, W., Feng, Q., Han, B.* (2012) Strand-specific RNA-seq reveals widespread occurrence of novel cis-natural antisense transcripts in rice. BMC Genomics 13:721. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-13-721.

 

21. Zhang, X-W., Jia, L-J., Zhang, Y., Jiang, G., Li, X., Zhang, D., and Tang, W-H.* (2012) In planta stage-specific fungal gene profiling elucidates the molecular strategies of Fusarium graminearum growing inside wheat coleoptiles. Plant Cell 24: 5159-5176

 

22. Tang, X., Zhang, Z.Y., Zhang, W.-J., Zhao, X.M., Li, X., Zhang, D., Liu, Q.Q. and Tang, W.H.* (2010) Global Gene Profiling of Laser-Captured Pollen Mother Cells Indicates Molecular Pathways and Gene Subfamilies Involved in Rice Meiosis. Plant Physiology 154: 1855-1870

 

23. Liu, X., Tang, W.H., Zhao, X.M.* and Chen, L.* (2010) A Network Approach to Predict Pathogenic Genes for Fusarium graminearum. PLoS ONE 5(10): e13021. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013021

 

24. Zhao, X.M.*, Zhang, X.-W., Tang, W.H. and Chen, L. (2009) FPPI: Fusarium graminearum Protein-Protein Interaction Database. J. Proteome Res. 8(10): 4714–4721

 

25. Zhang, D., Wengier, D., Shuai, B., Gui, C.P., Muschietti, J., McCormick, S. and Tang, W-H.* (2008) The pollen receptor kinase LePRK2 mediates growth-promoting signals and positively regulates pollen germination and tube growth. Plant Physiology 148:1368-1379

26. Tang, W., Coughlan, S., Crane, E, Beatty, M. and Duvick, J.* (2006) The application of laser microdissection to in planta gene expression profiling of the maize anthracnose stalk rot fungus Colletotrichum graminicola. Mol. Plant Microbe Interactions 19: 1240-1250.

27. Tang, W., Kelley, D., Ezcurra, I., Cotter, R. and McCormick, S.* (2004) LeSTIG1, an extracellular binding partner for the pollen receptor kinases LePRK1 and LePRK2, promotes pollen tube growth in vitro. Plant J. 39: 343-353

 

28. Guyon, V., Tang, W., Monti, M., Raiola, A., Lorenzo, G., McCormick, S. and Taylor, L.* (2004) Antisense phenotypes reveal a role for SHY, a pollen-specific leucine-rich repeat protein, in pollen tube growth. Plant J. 39:643-654

 

29. Wengier, D., Valsecchi,I., Cabanas, M.L., Tang, W., McCormick, S. and Muschietti, J.* (2003). The pollen-specific receptor kinases LePRK1 and LePRK2 associate in pollen and when expressed in yeast, but dissociate in the presence of style extract. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100:6860-6865

30. Tang, W., Ezcurra, I., Muschietti, J. and McCormick, S.* (2002). A cysteine-rich extracellular protein, LAT52, interacts with the extracellular domain of the pollen receptor kinase LePRK2. Plant Cell 14: 2277-2287.