Yuhang Chen

 

The biological membranes set a hydrophobic barrier that insulates the cellular or organelle contents from their environment. Membrane proteins play crucial roles in mediating the exchange of chemicals and signals across the biological membrane. Membrane proteins make up about ~30% of all proteins in our bodies, representing ~ 60% of drug targets in use today, but ~ 1% of all known structures. Atomic structural information of membrane proteins is essential for understanding mechanisms and developing small molecule modulators as new therapeutics. We are particularly interested in understanding the mechanism and regulation of these dynamic membrane proteins, and developing small molecule modulators based on their structures and functions. We are taking a multi-disciplinary approach, employing structural methods to capture the atomic-resolution pictures of the membrane proteins at different states, functional assays and biophysical methods to dissect the information inferred from the structure and computational approaches to understand their dynamics and kinetics.

(*corresponding or co-corresponding author)

Xiang-yun Zhang,Ling-hui Tang, Jia-wei Nie, Chun-rui Zhang,Xiaonan Han, Qi-yu Li, Li Qin, Mei-hua Wang, Xiahe Huang, Feifei Yu,Min Su, Yingchun Wang, Rui-ming Xu, Yan Guo, Qi Xie，Yu-hang Chen (2023). Structure and activation mechanism of the rice Salt Overly Sensitive 1(SOS1) Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter. Nat. Plants https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01551-5

 

Xiang-yun Zhang & Yu-hang Chen (2023)Structural insight into SOS signalling in response to salt stress. Nat. Plants. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01553-3

 

Zhou, Y., Zhang, T., Wang, X., Wu, W., Xing, J., Li, Z., Qiao, X., Zhang, C., Wang, X., Wang, G., Li, W., Bai, S., Li, Z., Suo, Y., Wang, J., Niu, Y., Zhang, J., Lan, C., Hu, Z., Li, B., Zhang, X., Wang, W., Galbraith, D.W., Chen, Y., Guo, S., and Song, C.P. (2023). A maize epimerase modulates cell wall synthesis and glycosylation during stomatal morphogenesis. Nature Communications 14, 4384.

 

Wei Wang^*, Li Qin, Wenjing Zhang, Linghui Tang, Chao Zhang, Xiaojing Dong, Pei Miao, Meng Shen, Huilong Du, Hangyuan Cheng, Ke Wang, Xiangyun Zhang, Min Su, Hongwei Lu, Chang Li, Qiang Gao, Xiaojuan Zhang, Yun Huang, Chengzhi Liang, Jian-Min Zhou^*, and Yu-hang Chen^* (2023)“Weitsing, A Pericycle-Expressed Ion Channel,Safeguards the Stele to Confer Clubroot Resistance” ,Cell 186，2656-2671

 

Alexander Forderer, Ertong Li, Aaron W. Lawson, Ya-nan Deng, Yue Sun,Elke Logemann, Xiaoxiao Zhang, Jie Wen, Zhifu Han, Junbiao Chang, Yuhang Chen^*,Paul Schulze-Lefert^* & Jijie Chai^*.(2022）“A wheat resistosome defines common principles of immune receptor channels”，Nature 610,532-539

 

Qin L, Tang LH, Xu JS, Zhang XH, Zhu Y, Zhang CR, Wang MH, Liu XL, Li F, Sun F, Su M^*,  Zhai Y^*, Chen YH^*. (2022) "Cryo-EM structure and electrophysiological characterization of ALMT from Glycine max reveal a previously uncharacterized class of anion channels", Science Advances 8(9): eabm3238.

 

Pei YR,  Deng YN, Zhang HR, Zhang ZG, Liu J, Chen ZB, Cai DR, Li K, Du YM, Zang J, Xin PY, Chu JF, Chen YH, Zhao L, Liu J, Chen HB. (2022) " EAR APICAL DEGENERATION1 regulates maize ear development by maintaining malate supply for apical inflorescence", Plant Cell 16 March 2022

 

Dong Q, Liu XL, Wang XH, Zhao Y, Chen YH, Li F. (2021) "Ccp1-Ndc80 switch at the N terminus of CENP-T regulates kinetochore assembly", PNAS 118(48):e2104459118.

 

Ban H, Sun W, Chen YH, Chen Y, Li F. (2021) "Dri1 mediates heterochromatin assembly via RNAi and histone deacetylation", Genetics 218(1):iyab032.

 

Bi GZ, Su M, Li N, Liang Y, Dang S, Xu JC, Hu MJ, Wang JZ, Zou MX, Deng YN, Li QY, Huang SJ, Li JJ, Chai JJ^*, He KM^*, Chen YH^*, Zhou JM^*. (2021) “The ZAR1 resistosome is a calcium-permeable channel triggering plant immune signaling”, Cell 184 (13): 3528-3541.e12

 

Deng YN, Kashtoh H., Wang Q, Zhen GX, Li QY, Tang LH, Gao HL, Zhang CR, Qin L, Su M, Li F, Huang XH, Wang YC, Xie Q, Clarke O.B. ^*, Hendrickson W.A.^*, Chen YH^*. (2021) “Structure and activity of SLAC1 channels for stomatal signaling in leaves”, PNAS 118 (18): e2015151118

 

Jin S, Fei H, Zhu Z, Luo Y, Liu J, Gao S, Zhang F, Chen YH, Wang Y, Gao C. (2020) “Rationally Designed APOBEC3B Cytosine Base Editors with Improved Specificity”, Molecular Cell. 79(5):728-740.e6.

 

Li C, Zhang R, Meng XB, Chen S, Zong Y, Lu CJ, Qiu, JL, Chen YH, Li JY^* & Gao CX^*. (2020) "Targeted, random mutagenesis of plant genes with dual cytosine and adenine base editors", Nature Biotechnology 2020: 1-8.

 

Gao D, Zhou T, Da LT, Bruhn T, Guo LL, Chen YH, Xu J, Xu MJ. (2019) "Characterization and Nonenzymatic Transformation of Three Types 2 of Alkaloids from Streptomyces albogriseolus MGR072 and Discovery 3 of Inhibitors of Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase", Organic Letter  21(21):8577-8581.

 

Zhang Y, Huang X, Wang J, Wang X, Liu X, Chen YH, Xu W, Wang Y. (2019) "Nitration-induced ubiquitination and degradation control quality of ERK1", Biochemistry Journal 476(13):1911-1926.

  

Wang XH, Su M, Gao F, Xie WJ, Zeng Y, Li DL, Liu XL, Zhao H, Qin L, Li F, Liu Q, Clarke OB, Lam SM., Shui GH, Hendrickson WA.^* & Chen YH^* (2019) “Structural basis for activity of TRIC counter-ion channels in calcium release”, PNAS  116 (10):201817271.

 

Yang J, Sun S, Zhang S, Gonzalez M, Dong Q, Chi Z, Chen YH & Li F^*.(2018) “Heterochromatin and RNAi regulate centromeres by protecting CENP-A from ubiquitin-mediated degradation”, PLoS Genetics 14(8): e1007572.

 

He HJ, Li Y, Dong QH, Chang AY, Gao F, Chi ZhX, Su M, Zhang FB, Bana H, Martienssend R, Chen YH^* &LiF^*.(2017) “Coordinated regulation of heterochromatin inheritance by Dpb3–Dpb4 complex”, PNAS 114,12524-12529. (*co-corresponding author)

 

Su M, Gao F, Yuan Q, Mao Y, Li Dl, Guo YZ, Cheng Y, Wang XH, Bruni R, Kloss B, Zhao H, Zeng Y, Zhang FB, Marks AR., Hendrickson WA. & Chen YH. (2017) “Structural basis for conductance through TRIC cation channels”, Nature Communications 8:15103.

  

Dong QH, Yin FX, Gao F, Shen Y, Zhang FB, He HJ, Gonzalez M, Yang JP, Zhang S, Li Y, Su M, Chen YH^* & Li F^*. (2016) " Ccp1 homodimer mediates chromatin integrity by antagonizing CENP-A loading", Molecular Cell 64, 79–91.

 

Chen YH, Hu L, Punta M, Bruni R, Hillerich B, Kloss B, Love J. Siegelbaum SA & Hendrickson WA.  (2010) "Homology structure of the SLAC1 anion channel for stomata closure in leaves", Nature 467(7319): 1074-80. 

 

Giraudo CG, Garcia-Diaz A, Eng WS, Chen Y, Hendrickson WA, Melia TJ, Rothman JE. (2009) "Alternative zippering as an on-off switch for SNARE-mediated fusion", Science 323 (5913): 512-6.

 

Chen YH, He LL, Buchanan DR, Zhang Y, Fitzmaurice A, Yang J. (2009) "Functional dissection of the intramolecular Src homology 3-guanylate kinase domain coupling in voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channel beta-subunits", FEBS Letter 583(12): 1969-75.

 

Zhang Y, Chen YH, Bangaru SD, He L, Abele K, Tanabe S, Kozasa T, Yang J. (2008) "Origin of the voltage dependence of G-protein regulation of P/Q-type Ca2+ channels", Journal Neuroscience 28(52): 14176- 88

 

He LL, Zhang Y, Chen YH, Yamada Y, Yang J.(2007) "Functional modularity of the beta-subunit of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels", Biophyscal Jouranl 93(3): 834-45

 

Chen YH, Li MH, Zhang Y, He LL, Yamada Y, Fitzmaurice A, Shen Y, Zhang H, Tong L, Yang J. (2004) "Structural basis of the alpha1-beta subunit interaction of voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels", Nature 429(6992):675-80.