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Name:
 ZHANG Xiaoming
Subject:
 Biochemistry and Molecular Biology/Genomics
Tel/Fax:
 +86-10-64806891  / 
E-mail:
 zhangxm@ioz.ac.cn
Address:
 The State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, P.R.China
More:
 Group of Epigenetics and Resistance      
Resume:

Zhang Xiaoming, PhD, doctoral supervisor; Leader of "Epigenetics and Antiviral Immunity Research Group", Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Special research backbone of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and teacher of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Winners of the National High level Talent Program (Youth), the National Natural Science Foundation of China's "Outstanding Youth Program" and "Outstanding Youth Program", the outstanding winner of the Chinese Academy of Sciences talent introduction plan evaluation, and the chief scientist of the key research and development program of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Director of the Chinese Entomological Society, Deputy Director of the Special Committee on Interactions between Vector Insects and Pathogens, Member of the Virus Professional Committee of the Chinese Plant Pathology Society, and Member of the Insect Comparative Immunity and Interaction Professional Committee of the Chinese Entomological Society.

Received the bachelor's degree from Nankai University in 2001, and the doctorate degree from Peking University in 2007. Performed post-doctoral research at the University of California, riverside, from 2008-2014.

Focusing on the role of RNA in the host's resistance immune response, analyzing the regulatory mechanism and immune function of non-coding RNA in animals and plants, revealing the occurrence mechanism and resistance function of protein-coding RNA, and attempting to develop and apply RNA pesticides. The relevant research has been published in journals such as Cell Host & Microbe, Science Advances, Nature Communications, and The Plant Cell.

Research Interests:

Aim to analyze the resistance mechanism of animals/plants to pathogens/insect vectors, main research includes: 1) the function of non-coding RNA in organism immunity; 2) the significance of organelle interaction on organism resistance.

Awards and Honors:

Professional Activities:

Research Grants:

Selected Publications:
  1. Huang, J., Du, J., Liu, Y., Lu, L., Xu, Y., Shi, J., Liu, Q., Li, Q., Liu, Y., Chen, Y., Du, M., Zhao, Y., Huo, L., Wang, W., Ding, C., Wei, L., Wu, J., Yuan, Y.-W., Chen, J., Li, R., Cui, F.* and Zhang, X*. (2025). RH3 enhances antiviral defense by facilitating small RNA loading into Argonaute 2 at endoplasmic reticulum–chloroplast membrane contact sites. Nature communications 16, 1953.
  2. Zhao, W., Li, Q., Sun, M., Luo, L., Zhang, X.,* and Cui, F*. (2025). Small interfering RNAs generated from the terminal panhandle structure of negative-strand RNA virus promote viral infection. PLoS Pathogens 21, e1012789.
  3. Song, S., Wang, Q., Huo, L., Xie, L., Chen, J., Cui, H., Dai, Z., Kang, J., Li, Y., Guo, W., Chen, J., Kang, L.* and Zhang, X*. (2024). The phytoplasma (Candidatus Phytoplasma arecae) is the crucial pathogen to cause areca palm yellow leaf disease. Science bulletin.
  4. Huang, J., Zhao, Y., Liu, S., Chen, Y., Du, M., Wang, Q., Zhang, J., Yang, X., Chen, J* and Zhang, X*. (2024). RH20, a phase-separated RNA helicase protein, facilitates plant resistance to viruses. Plant science 347, 112176.
  5. Li, Q#., Liu, Y#., and Zhang, X*. (2024). Biomolecular condensates in plant RNA silencing: insights into formation, function, and stress responses. The Plant cell, 36(2), 227–245.
  6. Wu, J#., Zhang, Y#., Li, F#., Zhang, X#., Ye, J., Wei, T., Li, Z., Tao, X., Cui, F., Wang, X., Zhang, L., Yan, F., Li, S., Liu, Y., Li, D., Zhou, X* and Li, Y*. (2024). Plant virology in the 21st century in China: Recent advances and future directions. Journal of integrative plant biology, 66(3), 579–622.
  7. Zhou, W., Huang, J., Yang, X*., and Zhang, X*. (2024). Detection of dsRNA with Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH). Methods Mol Biol 2771, 35-38.
  8. Chen, X., Li, W.W., Gao, J., Wu, Z., Du, J., Zhang, X., and Zhu, Y.X. *. (2024). Arabidopsis PDLP7 modulated plasmodesmata function is related to BG10-dependent glucosidase activity required for callose degradation. Science bulletin.
  9. Lu, T., Ji, Y., Chang, M., Zhang, X., Wang, Y., and Zou, Z. (2024). The accumulation of modular serine protease mediated by a novel circRNA sponging miRNA increases Aedes aegypti immunity to fungus. BMC Biology 22, 7.
  10. Chen, J#., Liu, Y#., Liu, M#., Guo, W#., Wang, Y#., He, Q#., Chen, W., Liao, Y., Zhang, W., Gao, Y., Dong, K., Ren, R., Yang, T., Zhang, L., Qi, M., Li, Z., Zhao, M., Wang, H., Wang, J., Qiao, Z., Li, H., Jiang, Y., Liu, G., Song, X., Deng, Y., Li, H., Yan, F., Dong, Y., Li, Q., Li, T., Yang, W., Cui, J., Wang, H., Zhou, Y., Zhang, X., Jia, G., Lu, P., Zhi, H., Tang, S* and Diao, X*. (2023). Pangenome analysis reveals genomic variations associated with domestication traits in broomcorn millet. Nature Genetics 55, 2243-2254.
  11. Huang, J#., Zhou, W#., Zhang, X* and Li, Y*. (2023). Roles of long non-coding RNAs in plant immunity. PLoS pathogens, 19(5), e1011340.
  12. Du, J., Liu, Y., Lu, L., Shi, J., Xu, L., Li, Q., Cheng, X., Chen, J* and Zhang, X*. (2022). Accumulation of DNA damage alters microRNA gene transcription in Arabidopsis thaliana. BMC plant biology, 22(1), 576.
  13. Liu, Y#., Rao, J#., Mi, Y#., Chen, L., Feng, L., Li, Q., Geng, J., Yang, X., Zhan, X., Ren, L., Chen, J* and Zhang, X*. (2022). SARS-CoV-2 RNAs are processed into 22-nt vsRNAs in Vero cells. Frontiers in immunology, 13, 1008084.
  14. Liu, N#., Xu, Y#., Li, Q., Cao, Y., Yang, D., Liu, S., Wang, X., Mi, Y., Liu, Y., Ding, C., Liu, Y., Li, Y., Yuan, Y. W., Gao, G., Chen, J*., Qian, W* and Zhang, X*. (2022). A lncRNA fine-tunes salicylic acid biosynthesis to balance plant immunity and growth. Cell host & microbe, 30(8), 1124–1138.e8.
  15. Cheng, Y., Lu, T., Guo, J., Lin, Z., Jin, Q., Zhang, X* & Zou, Z*. (2022). Helicoverpa armigera miR-2055 regulates lipid metabolism via fatty acid synthase expression. Open biology, 12(3), 210307.
  16. Li, Q#., Liu, N#., Liu, Q#., Zheng, X., Lu, L., Gao, W., Liu, Y., Liu, Y., Zhang, S., Wang, Q., Pan, J., Chen, C., Mi, Y., Yang, M., Cheng, X., Ren, G., Yuan, Y. W and Zhang, X*. (2021). DEAD-box helicases modulate dicing body formation in Arabidopsis. Science advances, 7(18), eabc6266.
  17. Gao, W#., Liu, Y#., Huang, J#., Chen, Y., Chen, C., Lu, L., Zhao, H., Men, S* and Zhang, X*. (2021). MES7 Modulates Seed Germination via Regulating Salicylic Acid Content in Arabidopsis. Plants, 10(5), 903.
  18. Liu, Q., Liu, Y., Li, Q., Qian, W and Zhang, X*. (2021). Determining the Phase Separation Characteristics of Plant Proteins. Current protocols, 1(9), e237.
  19. Liu, Y#., Gao, W#., Wu, S#., Lu, L., Chen, Y., Guo, J., Men, S and Zhang, X*. (2020). AtXRN4 Affects the Turnover of Chosen miRNA*s in Arabidopsis. Plants, 9(3), 362.
  20. Zhang, B., Zhao, L., Ning, J., Wickham, J. D., Tian, H., Zhang, X., Yang, M., Wang, X and Sun, J. (2020). miR-31-5p regulates cold acclimation of the wood-boring beetle Monochamus alternatus via ascaroside signaling. BMC biology, 18(1), 184.
  21. RNA沉默转基因技术在植物抗病虫害研究中的作用 杨美玲; 李琦; 陈佳琦; 张晓明《植物保护》 2020，46(4)：1-6
  22. Yang, M#., Xu, Z#., Zhao, W#., Liu, Q., Li, Q., Lu, L., Liu, R*., Zhang, X* and Cui, F*. (2018). Rice stripe virus-derived siRNAs play different regulatory roles in rice and in the insect vector Laodelphax striatellus. BMC plant biology, 18(1), 219. 
  23. Zhao, W#., Xu, Z#., Zhang, X., Yang, M., Kang, L*., Liu, R* and Cui, F*. (2018). Genomic variations in the 3'-termini of Rice stripe virus in the rotation between vector insect and host plant. The New phytologist, 219(3), 1085–1096.
  24. Huang, J#., Yang, M#., Lu, L* and Zhang, X*. (2016). Diverse Functions of Small RNAs in Different Plant-Pathogen Communications. Frontiers in microbiology, 7, 1552.
  25. Huang, J., Yang, M and Zhang, X*. (2016). The function of small RNAs in plant biotic stress response. Journal of integrative plant biology. 58(4):312-27 14.
  26. Zhang, X., Niu, D., Carbonell, A., Wang, A., Lee, A., Tun, V., Wang, Z., Carrington, J. C., Chang, C. E and Jin, H*. (2014). ARGONAUTE PIWI domain and microRNA duplex structure regulate small RNA sorting in Arabidopsis. Nature communications, 5, 5468.
  27. Zhang, X., Lii, Y., Wu, Z., Polishko, A., Zhang, H., Chinnusamy, V., Lonardi, S., Zhu, J. K*., Liu, R* and Jin, H*. (2013). Mechanisms of small RNA generation from cis-NATs in response to environmental and developmental cues. Molecular plant, 6(3), 704–715.
  28. Zhang, X#., Xia, J#., Lii, Y. E., Barrera-Figueroa, B. E., Zhou, X., Gao, S., Lu, L., Niu, D., Chen, Z., Leung, C., Wong, T., Zhang, H., Guo, J., Li, Y., Liu, R., Liang, W., Zhu, J. K., Zhang, W* and Jin, H*. (2012). Genome-wide analysis of plant nat-siRNAs reveals insights into their distribution, biogenesis and function. Genome biology, 13(3), R20.
  29. Zhang, X#., Zhao, H#., Gao, S., Wang, W. C., Katiyar-Agarwal, S., Huang, H. D., Raikhel, N and Jin, H*. (2011). Arabidopsis Argonaute 2 regulates innate immunity via miRNA393(∗)-mediated silencing of a Golgi-localized SNARE gene, MEMB12. Molecular cell, 42(3), 356–366.
  30. Zhang, W*., Gao, S., Zhou, X., Chellappan, P., Chen, Z., Zhou, X., Zhang, X., Fromuth, N., Coutino, G., Coffey, M and Jin, H*. (2011). Bacteria-responsive microRNAs regulate plant innate immunity by modulating plant hormone networks. Plant molecular biology, 75(1-2), 93–105. 3
  31. Zhang, W*#., Gao, S#., Zhou, X., Xia, J., Chellappan, P., Zhou, X., Zhang, X and Jin, H*. (2010). Multiple distinct small RNAs originate from the same microRNA precursors. Genome biology, 11(8), R81.
  32. Chellappan, P., Xia, J., Zhou, X., Gao, S., Zhang, X., Coutino, G., Vazquez, F., Zhang, W* and Jin, H*. (2010). siRNAs from miRNA sites mediate DNA methylation of target genes. Nucleic acids research, 38(20), 6883–6894.
  33. Zhou, P., Ren, B., Zhang, X., Wang, Y., Wei, C. H and Li, Y*. (2010). Stable expression of rice dwarf virus Pns10 suppresses the post-transcriptional gene silencing in transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana plants. Acta virologica, 54(2), 99–104.
  34. Padmanabhan, C#., Zhang, X# and Jin, H*. (2009). Host small RNAs are big contributors to plant innate immunity. Current opinion in plant biology, 12(4), 465–472.
  35. Tsuchisaka, A., Yu, G., Jin, H., Alonso, J. M., Ecker, J. R., Zhang, X., Gao, S and Theologis, A*. (2009). A combinatorial interplay among the 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate isoforms regulates ethylene biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. Genetics, 183(3), 979–1003.
  36. Zhang, X., Du, P., Lu, L., Xiao, Q., Wang, W., Cao, X., Ren, B., Wei, C and Li, Y*. (2008). Contrasting effects of HC-Pro and 2b viral suppressors from Sugarcane mosaic virus and Tomato aspermy cucumovirus on the accumulation of siRNAs. Virology, 374(2), 351–360.  
  37. Cao, X., Zhou, P., Zhang, X., Zhu, S., Zhong, X., Xiao, Q., Ding, B and Li, Y*. (2005). Identification of an RNA silencing suppressor from a plant double-stranded RNA virus. Journal of virology, 79(20), 13018–13027.

Our laboratory focuses on the research on the frontier fields such as the regulatory activity of non-coding RNA and organelle interaction on organism resistance. Welcome students who have passion for research and dare to challenge themselves. Background major needs but is not limited to molecular biology, cell biology, epigenetics, botany, microbiology, etc.