YU GANG   Associate Professor/Principal Investigator Department of Plant Science Molecular Plant-Bacteria Interactions Group Email: gangyu@sjtu.edu.cn Address: Rm420, Bld B, School of Agriculture and Biology

 

>>Research and Education Background

2022.6-present, Associate Professor/Principal Investigator, Department of Plant Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

2016.7-2022.5, Postdoctoral researcher, lab of Alberto Macho, Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

2010.9-2016.6, Ph.D. in Botany/Plant Pathology, lab of Hongyu Pan, College of Plant Sciences, Jilin University, Jilin, China

2013.9-2015.9, Joint-training Ph.D., lab of Gitta Coaker, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

2006.9-2010.6, B.S. in Plant Protection, College of Plant Sciences, Jilin University, Jilin, China 

 

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6720-7490

 

>>Research Interests

Our current knowledge about plant immunity are mainly based on the studies in plant leaf system, however the plant-microbe interactions happens in the root in lots of cases. The soil-borne pathogens, infecting plants through roots, cause serious problems in agriculture, threating food security. Our understandings about the plant root immune system is still limited, lagging far behind the foliar pathogen studies. Bacterial wilting disease epidemic, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, frequently happens in the tropical and subtropical regions, resulting in heavy losses in agriculturally important crops including potato, tomato, pepper, tobacco, banana, among others, which makes R. solanacearum one of the most important pathogenic bacteria worldwide considering its significance in science and economics. R. solanacearum infects plant through root, making it an ideal pathogen to look at root immune responses.

Currently using plant- R. solanacearum interaction as model system, with type-III effectors as molecular probes, my main research interests include: 1) elucidation of the underlying molecular and biochemical mechanisms of plant innate immunity to soil-borne pathogen invasion; 2) characterization of the roles of plant cell wall in plant immunity; 3) Identification and characterization of PRR and NLR resistance genes in crops.

 

 

>>Publications (^#first author, ^*corresponding author)

Gang Yu Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9XPgncQAAAAJ&hl=en

 

(20) Hao Xue^#, Gang Yu^#, Lu Zhang, Meng Li, Rosa Lozano-Duran^*, and Alberto P. Macho^*. Ralstonia solanacearum alters root developmental programs in auxin-dependent and independent manners. 2022, bioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2022.06.22.497157.

(19) Gang Yu^#, Maria Derkacheva^#,*, Jose S. Rufian^#, Carla Brillada, Kathrin Kowarschik, Shushu Jiang, Paul Derbyshire, Miaomiao Ma, Thomas A. DeFalco, Rafael J. L. Morcillo, Lena Stransfeld, Yali Wei, Jian-Min Zhou, Frank L.H. Menke, Marco Trujillo, Cyril Zipfel^*, and Alberto P. Macho^*. The Arabidopsis E3 ubiquitin ligase PUB4 regulates BIK1 and is targeted by a bacterial type-III effector. The EMBO Journal, 2022, e107257.

(18) Suhui Lv^#, Yu Yang^#, Gang Yu^#, Li Peng, Shuai Zheng, Sunil Kumar Singh, Juan Ignacio Vílchez, Richa Kaushal, Hailing Zi, Dian Yi, Yuhua Wang, Shaofan Luo, Xiaoxuan Wu, Ziwei Zuo, Weichang Huang, Renyi Liu, Jiamu Du, Alberto P Macho, Kai Tang, Huiming Zhang^*. Dysfunction of histone demethylase IBM1 in Arabidopsis causes autoimmunity and reshapes the root microbiome. ISME Journal, 2022, doi: 10.1038/s41396-022-01297-6.

(17) Julian Dindas^#, Thomas A. DeFalco^#, Gang Yu, Lu Zhang, Pascale David, Marta Bjornson, Marie-Christine Thibaud, Valéria Custódio, Gabriel Castrillo, Laurent Nussaume, Alberto P. Macho, and Cyril Zipfel^*. Direct inhibition of phosphate transport by plant immune signaling. Current Biology, 2022, 32 (2), 488-495.

(16) Yanru Wang^#, Liu Xian^#, Gang Yu, and Alberto P. Macho^*. Tomato stem injection for the precise assessment of Ralstonia solanacearum fitness in planta. Bio-protocol, 2021, 11(16): e4134.

(15) Liping Wang^#*, Gang Yu^#*, Alberto P. Macho, and Rosa Lozano-Duran. Split-luciferase complementation imaging assay to study protein-protein interactions in Nicotiana benthamiana. Bio-protocol, 2021, 11(23): e4237.

(14) Liu Xian, Gang Yu, and Alberto P. Macho^*. The GABA transaminase GabT is required for full virulence of Ralstonia solanacearum in tomato. microPublication Biology, 2021, DOI: 10.17912/micropub.biology.000478.

(13) Yaru Wang, Rafael Morcillo, Achen Zhao, Gang Yu, Hao Xue, Jose S. Rufian, Yuying Sang, and Alberto P. Macho^*. A bacterial effector uncovers a metabolic pathway involved in resistance to bacterial wilt disease. Molecular Plant, 2021, 14(8):1281-1296.

(12) Gang Yu^*, Liu Xian, Haiyan Zhuang and Alberto Macho^*. SGT1 is not required for plant LRR-RLK-mediated immunity. Molecular Plant Pathology, 2021, 22: 145-150.

(11) Gang Yu, Liu Xian, Hao Xue, Wenjia Yu, Jose Rufian, Yuying Sang, Rafael Morcillo, Yaru Wang, and Alberto P. Macho^*. A bacterial effector protein prevents MAPK-mediated phosphorylation of SGT1 to suppress plant immunity. PLoS Pathogens, 2020, 16(9):e1008933.

(10) Liu Xian^#, Gang Yu^#, Yali Wei, Yansha Li, Hao Xue, Rafael J. L. Morcillo, Jose S. Rufian, and Alberto P. Macho^*. A bacterial effector protein hijacks plant metabolism to support bacterial nutrition. Cell Host & Microbe, 2020, 28(4): 548-557.

(9) Yuying Sang^#, Wenjia Yu^#, Haiyan Zhuang, Yali Wei, Lida Derevnina, Gang Yu, Jiamin Luo, Alberto P. Macho^*. Intra-strain elicitation and suppression of plant immunity by Ralstonia solanacearum type-III effectors in Nicotiana benthamiana. Plant Communications, 2020: 10.1016/j.xplc.2020.100025.

(8) Gang Yu, Liu Xian, Yuying Sang, Alberto P. Macho^*. Cautionary notes on the use of Agrobacterium-mediated transient gene expression upon SGT1 silencing in Nicotiana benthamiana. New Phytologist, 2019, 222: 14-17.

(7) Ling Liu, Qiaochu Wang, Ying Sun, Yanhua Zhang, Xianghui Zhang, Jinliang Liu, Gang Yu^*, and Hongyu Pan^*. Sssfh1, a gene encoding a putative component of the RSC chromatin remodeling complex, is involved in hyphal growth, reactive oxygen species accumulation, and pathogenicity in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2018, 9: 1828.

(6) Xinhua Sun, Gang Yu^*, Jingtao Li, Jinliang Liu, Xueliang Wang, Genglin Zhu, Xianghui Zhang, and Hongyu Pan^*. AcERF2, an ethylene-responsive factor of Atriplex canescens, positively modulates osmotic and disease resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Science, 2018, 274: 32-43.

(5) Gang Yu, Jingtao Li, Xinhua Sun, Yanzhi Liu, Xueliang Wang, Hao Zhang, and Hongyu Pan^*. Characterization of salinity tolerance genes expressed in salt-treated Atriplex canescens, IJMS, 2017, 18(11), 2444.

(4) Huidong Fan, Gang Yu, Yanzhi Liu, Xianghui Zhang, Jinliang Liu, Yanhua Zhang, Jeffery A. Rollins, Fengjie Sun, and Hongyu Pan^*. An atypical forkhead containing transcription factor SsFkh1 is involved in sclerotial formation and is essential for pathogenicity in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Molecular Plant Pathology, 2017, 18(7):963-975.

(3) Jingtao Li, Gang Yu, Xinhua Sun, Xianghui Zhang, Jinliang Liu and Hongyu Pan^*. AcEBP1, an ErbB3-Binding Protein (EBP1) from halophyte Atriplex canescens, negatively regulates cell growth and stress responses in Arabidopsis, Plant Science, 2016, 248: 64-74.

(2) Jingtao Li^#, Gang Yu^#, Xinhua Sun, Yanzhi Liu, Jinliang Liu, Xianghui Zhang, Chengguo Jia, Hongyu Pan^*. AcPIP2, a plasma membrane intrinsic protein from halophyte Atriplex canescens, enhances plant growth rate and abiotic stress tolerance when overexpressed in Arabidopsis thaliana, Plant Cell Reports, 2015, 24(8): 1401-1415.

(1) DongHyuk Lee, Gildas Bourdais, Gang Yu, Silke Robatzek, and Gitta Coaker^*. RIN4 phosphorylation enhances plant plasma membrane H⁺-ATPase activity and inhibits flagellin-triggered immune responses. The Plant Cell, 2015, 27 (7):2042-2056.