DENG, Xin (鄧新)

Prof. Deng received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Microbiology from China Agricultural University. He completed PhD in Genetics at the Kansas State University and postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago. He is interested in bacterial virulence, including gene regulation, signalling pathways, and RNA epigenetics. His research lies on the interface of multi-disciplinary approaches with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapies to combat bacterial infection. More information can be found at the group website.

Research Interests

The emergence and spread of various multidrug-resistant bacterial strains have posed alarming challenges to public health and agriculture worldwide. Public demand for new antibiotics is enormous, yet drug development pipelines of the pharmaceutical industry started to run dry with limited targets available for inventing new bactericidal antibiotics. It is important to uncover potential therapeutic targets. Our group has been working on virulence regulation in the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae, which are of world-wide importance. These pathogens rely on quorum sensing systems and type III secretion system to invade their hosts, which is finely regulated by a group of transcription factors and signalling pathways. Research in our group has led to the identification of a variety of new virulence-associated two-component systems, transcription factors and their molecular mechanisms. We have mapped the transcription factor-based regulatory networks for both superbugs. Tuning their expression and developing inhibitors are key for the development of strategies to control Pseudomonas infections. Our work also demonstrates that RNA modifications exist in a wide-range of bacterial species, which suggests their potential important roles in gene regulation.

Representative Recent Publications

1. Xie Y^#, Li J^#, Ding Y^#, Shao X, Sun Y, Xie F, Liu S, Tang S, Deng X*. An atlas of bacterial two-component systems reveals function and plasticity in signal transduction. Cell Reports. (2022) 41(3):111502.
2. Hua C^#, Huang J^#, Wang T^#, Sun Y, Liu J, Huang L, Deng X*. Bacterial transcription factors bind to coding regions and regulate internal cryptic promoters. mBio. (2022) e0164322.
3. Sun Y, Shao X, Zhang Y, Han L, Huang J, Xie Y, Liu J, Deng X*. Maintenance of tRNA and Elongation Factors Supports T3SS Proteins Translational Elongations in Pathogenic Bacteria during Nutrient Starvation. Cell & Bioscience. (2022) 12(1):147.
4. Xie Y^#, Ding Y^#, Shao X, Yao C, Li J, Liu J, Deng X*. Pseudomonas syringae senses polyphenols via phosphorelay crosstalk to inhibit virulence. EMBO Reports. (2021) (12):e52805.
5. Shao X^#, Tan M^#, Xie Y, Yao C, Wang T, Huang H, Zhang Y, Ding Y, Liu J, Han L, Hua C, Wang X*, Deng X*. Integrated regulatory network in Pseudomonas syringae reveals dynamics of virulence. Cell Reports. (2021) 34:108920.
6. Wang T^#, Sun W^#, Fan L^#, Hua C^#, Wu N, Fan S, Zhang J, Deng X*, Yan J.* An atlas of the binding specificities of transcription factors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa directs prediction of novel regulators in virulence. eLife. (2021) 10:e61885.
7. Feng Z, Zhou F, Tan M, Wang T, Chen Y, Xu W, Li B, Wang X*, Deng X*, He M*, Targeting m6A Modification Inhibits Herpes Virus 1 Infection. Genes & Diseases (2021) doi:10.1016/j.gendis.2021.02.004.
8. Fan L^#, Wang T^#, Hua C^#, Sun W^#, Li X, Grunwald L, Liu J, Wu N, Shao X, Yin Y, Yan J*, Deng X*. A compendium of DNA-binding specificities of transcription factors in Pseudomonas syringae. Nature Communications. (2020) 11:4947.
9. Xie Y, Liu W, Shao X, Zhang W, Deng X*. Signal transduction schemes in Pseudomonas syringae. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. (2020) 18:3415-3424.
10. Shao X, Xie Y, Zhang Y, Liu J, Ding Y, Wu M, Wang X, Deng X*. Novel drug discovery strategies for treating Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery. (2020) 12:1403-23.
11. Hua C, Wang T, Shao X, Xie Y, Huang H, Liu J, Zhang W, Zhang Y, Ding Y, Jiang L, Wang X, Deng X*. Pseudomonas syringae dual-function protein Lon switches between virulence and metabolism by acting as both DNA-binding transcriptional regulator and protease in different environments. Environmental Microbiology. (2020) 22(7):2968-88.
12. Shao X^#, Zhang W^#, Umar M^#, Xie Y, Wang T, Zhang Y, Yang L, Kwok C*, Deng X*. Widespread of RNA G-quadruplexes (rG4) structures mediate post-transcriptional regulation in bacteria. mBio. (2020) 11(1):e02926-19.
13. Xie Y, Shao X, Deng X*. Regulation of Type III secretion system in Pseudomonas syringae. Environmental Microbiology. (2019) (12):4465-4477.
14. Zhang Y^#, Zhou C^#, Pu Q, Wu Q, Tan S, Shao X, Zhang W, Xie Y, Li R, Yu X, Wang R, Zhang L, Wu M*, Deng X*. Pseudomonas aeruginosa regulatory protein AnvM controls pathogenicity in anaerobic environment and impacts host defense. mBio. (2019) 10(4):e01362-19.
15. Huang H^#, Shao X^#, Xie Y^#, Wang T, Zhang Y, Wang X*, Deng X*. An integrated genomic regulatory network of virulence-related transcriptional factors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Nature Communications. (2019) 10: 2931.
16. Xie Y, Shao X, Zhang Y, Liu J, Wang T, Zhang W, Hua C, Deng X*. Pseudomonas savastanoi two-component system RhpRS switches between virulence and metabolism by tuning phosphorylation state and sensing nutritional conditions. mBio. (2019) 10(2):e02838-18.
17. Wang T^#, Cai Z^#, Shao X, Zhang W, Xie Y, Zhang Y, Hua C, Schuster S C, Yang L, Deng X*. The pleiotropic effects of c-di-GMP content in Pseudomonas syringae. Applied Environmental Microbiology. (2019) 85(10):e00152-19.
18. Shao X^#, Zhang X^#, Zhang Y, Zhu M, Yang P, Yuan J, Xie Y, Zhou T, Wang W, Chen S, Liang H*, Deng X*. RpoN-dependent direct regulation of quorum sensing and the type VI secretion system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. Journal of Bacteriology. (2018) 200(16). pii: e00205-18.
19. Zhao J, Yu X, Zhu M, Kang H, Ma J, Wu M, Gan J*, Deng X* and Liang H*. Structural and molecular mechanism of CdpR involved in quorum-sensing and bacterial virulence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PLOS Biology. (2016) 14(4): e1002449.
20. Kong W^#, Zhao J^#, Zhu M, Kang H, Zhou T, Deng X*, Liang H*. ChIP-seq reveals molecular mechanisms of global regulator AlgR mediating cyclic di-GMP synthesis and biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Nucleic Acids Research. (2015) 43(17): 8268-82.

25 October 2022