Yangnan Gu

 

E-mail：ygu@tsinghua.edu.cn

Research Area:

Plants have evolved sophisticated immune mechanisms during their interactions with microbes for almost half a billion years. Different from the animal immune system, which relies on specialized immune cells, each individual plant cell is able to launch innate immune responses. Activation of rapid and precise immune responses requires coordination of many key cellular processes. We use a combined molecular, cellular, genetic, biochemical, biostatistical and bioinformatic approach to study the intriguing mechanism behind host-pathogen interactions. We focus on the role of targeted membrane trafficking and coordinated nucleocytoplasmic transport in activation, regulation and termination of the innate immunity. We are also interested in the immune regulatory role of nuclear envelope localized macromolecular complex (e.g. nuclear pore complex) and transmembrane proteins.

Selected Publications:

1. Gu, Y., Zebell, S., Liang, Z., Wang, S., Kang, B. and Dong, X. (2016). Nuclear pore permeabilization is a convergent signaling event in effector-triggered immunity. Cell 166: 1526-1538. 

2. Liu, L., Sonbol, FM., Huot, B., Gu, Y., Withers, J., Mwimba, M., Yao, J., He, S.Y. and Dong, X. (2016). Salicylic acid receptors activate jasmonic acid signalling through a noncanonical pathway to promote effector-triggered immunity; Nature Communications 7: 13099.

3. Gu, Y. and Dong X. (2015). Stromules: signal conduits for plant immunity. Developmental Cell 34: 3-4.

4. Saleh, A., Withers, J., Mohan, R., Marques, J., Gu, Y., Yan, S., Zavaliev, R., Nomoto, M., Tada, Y. and Dong, X. (2015). Posttranslational modifications of the master transcriptional regulator NPR1 enable dynamic but tight control of plant immune responses; Cell Host-Microbe 18: 169-182.

5. Wang, S.*, Gu, Y.*, Zebell, S.*, Anderson, L.K., Wang, W., Mohan, R., and Dong, X. (2014). A noncanonical role for the CKI-RB-E2F cell-cycle signaling pathway in plant effector-triggered immunity. Cell Host-Microbe 16: 787-794. *Co-first authorship. 

6. Serrano, I.*, Gu, Y.*, Qi, D., Dubiella, U. and Innes, R.W. (2014). The Arabidopsis EDR1 protein kinase negatively regulates the ATL1 E3 ubiquitin ligase to suppress cell death. Plant Cell 26: 4532-4546. *Co-first authorship. 


7. Gu, Y. and Innes, R.W. (2012). The Keep On Going (KEG) protein of Arabidopsis regulates intracellular protein trafficking and is degraded during fungal infection. Plant Cell 24: 4717-4730. 

8. Gu, Y. and Innes, R.W. (2011). The Keep On Going (KEG) protein of Arabidopsis physically interacts with the Enhanced Disease Resistance 1 (EDR1) protein and recruits it to early endosomes; Plant Physiology 115: 1827-1838.