Longsheng Zhao: Plant Physiology First Author

Longsheng Zhao, first author of “Native architecture and acclimation of photosynthetic membranes in a fast-growing cyanobacterium”

Current Position: Postdoctoral fellow in State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, and Marine Biotechnology Research Center, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China.

Education: Ph.D in State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Jinan, China.

Non-scientific Interests: music, movie, badminton, cooking

Brief bio: I got my bachelor’s degree in School of Life Science, Shandong University and doctorate in the group of Prof. Yuzhong Zhang, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University. During my Ph.D, I mainly focused on the native supramolecular architecture of photosynthetic membrane in red algae, including single-cell Porphyridium cruentum and multi-cell Polysiphonia urceolata and Porphyra yezoensis, using atomic force microscope (AFM). After I got my Ph.D, I went to UK and worked in University of Liverpool as a research associate in the group of Prof. Luning Liu. Currently, I’m working in State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University as a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Prof. Yuzhong Zhang. With the help of Prof. Liu and Prof. Zhang, I studied the structural variability, coordination and adaptation of cyanobacterial thylakoid membranes. We applied high-resolution AFM imaging to draw a landscape view of the native arrangement of membrane complexes in the thylakoid membranes from cyanobacteria. Our results provide insight into the heterogeneity, compartmentalization and functional regulation of the cyanobacterial photosynthetic apparatus, which is extendable to other membrane systems in bacteria, chloroplasts and mitochondria. The naturally occurring organizational features of thylakoid membranes could be important considerations for the future engineering of artificial photosynthetic systems to underpin biofuel production.