Zhen Yang: Plant Physiology First Author

Zhen Yang, First author of “Dehydrogenase MnGutB1 catalyzes 1-deoxynojirimycin biosynthesis in mulberry”

 Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University

Education: 

2017.09 – 2019.06 State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University (Postgraduate)

2019.09 –      State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University (Ph.D. Candidate)

Non-scientific Interests: Chinese Ballad, Cookery

 Brief biography: I have been committed to the research of biosynthesis and regulation of mulberry-specific metabolites synthesis, since I studied at the State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University supervised by Professor Ningjia He in 2019. Based on previous studies of DNJ biosynthesis in different species, this research focused on the sugar-derived DNJ pathway. Combining both targeted and nontargeted metabolite profiling methods, DNJ and it precursors 2-amino-2-deoxy-D-mannitol (ADM) were quantified in mulberry samples from different tissues. Several methods, such as in vitro catalytic reaction, virus-induced gene silencing, transgenic technology, and light-induced gene expression, have been adopted to explore MnGutB1 is essential for DNJ biosynthesis. Our results demonstrated that hexose derivative ADM is the precursor in DNJ biosynthesis, and it is catalyzed by MnGutB1.

第一作者：杨震

目前职位：西南大学家蚕基因组生物学国家重点实验室，博士研究生

教育经历：2017.09至2019.06，西南大学家蚕基因组生物学国家重点实验室，硕士研究生；2019.09至今，西南大学家蚕基因组生物学国家重点实验室，博士研究生在读

兴趣爱好：中国曲艺，烹饪

个人简历：自2019年师从何宁佳教授以来，我一直致力于桑树特色次生代谢产物生物合成与调控研究。主要开展桑树1-脱氧野尻霉素（DNJ）等药用次生代谢产物的研究工作。本研究基于前人在不同物种中DNJ生物合成的研究基础，主要关注桑树糖衍生的DNJ生物合成途径。联合靶向和非靶向的代谢组分析方法，对桑树不同组织样品中DNJ及其前体2-氨基-2-脱氧-D-甘露醇（ADM）进行了定量分析。采用多种实验策略，如体外酶活分析、病毒诱导基因沉默、毛状根过表达和光诱导基因表达等，探究桑树MnGutB1基因对DNJ生物合成的重要性。我们的研究结果表明，己糖衍生物ADM是桑树DNJ生物合成的前体，且ADM合成DNJ这一过程是由MnGutB1催化的。