Wang Qinhong, Ph.D.
Investigator, TIB, Tianjin, China
Tel: 022-84861950 (office), 022-84861957 (lab)
Fax: 022-84861950
E-mail: wang_qh(AT)tib.cas.cn
Education
1992.9-1996.6 Bachelor in Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, China
1996.9-1999.4 Master in Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, China
1999.9-2003.3 Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Professional Experience
2004.1-2005.6 Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Oklahoma, Norma, Oklahoma, USA
2005.7-2009.4 Postdoctoral Scholar, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
2009.6-present Principal Investigator, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
Research Interest
Our lab is interested in engineering microbial cell factories by molecular directed evolution and cellular adaptive evolution to improve the production of bio-based products based on constructing and optimizing metabolic pathways, and then characterizing the novel microbial cell factories by a variety of biochemical and biophysical methods to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism, which will contribute to finding the useful targets for next-round engineering microbial cell factories for further improving their performance, such as titer, yield and productivity.
(1) Molecular directed evolution of microbial cell factories
Molecular directed evolution is the experimental improvement of microbial cell factories or cellular properties through iterative genetic diversification and selection/screening procedures. The creation of novel metabolic functions without disrupting the balanced intracellular pool of metabolites is the primary challenge of manipulation in microbial cell factories. The introduction of coordinated changes across multiple genetic elements, in conjunction with functional selection/screening, presents an integrated approach for the modification of cellular metabolism with benign physiological consequences. Molecular directed evolution formats take advantage of the dynamic structures of genomes and genomic sub-structures and their ability to evolve in multiple directions in response to external stimuli. Based on the construction the primary microbial cell factories, we will develop the rational and effective methods to create the libraries of key enzymes, transporters and regulatory factors in the microbial cell factories followed by the high-throughput screening/selection of the supermutants with improved desired properties. The obtained supermutants will dramatically contribute to the improved production performance of new microbial cell factories.
(2) Cellular adaptive evolution of microbial cell factories
Cellular adaptive evolution is a frequent method in biological studies to gain insights into the basic mechanisms of molecular evolution and adaptive changes that accumulate in microbial populations during long term selection under specified growth conditions. The advent of transcript and cheap next-generation sequencing technologies has resulted in the successful application of this technique in order to engineer microbial cell factories for biotechnological applications. Cellular adaptive evolution has some major benefits as compared with classical genetic engineering but also some inherent limitations. Based on the self-designed automatic adaptive evolution system, we will improve significantly the utilization of substrate feedstock, the capability of metabolite synthesis and the physiological tolerance for microbial cell factories by cellular adaptive evolution, especially in combination the TALENs-mediated genome editing technologies. At the same time genome analysis the microbial cell factories with improved performances will understand the molecular genetic and regulatory mechanism, and then reveal the targets for further engineering microbial cell factories towards the future industrial applications.
Selected Publications
1. Sun L, Zhang H, Yuan H, Tu R, Wang Q*, Ma Y. A double-enzyme-coupled assay for high-throughput screening of succinic acid-producing strains. Journal of Applied Microbiology 2013, 114(6):1696-701.
2. Jiang D, Tu R, Bai B, Wang Q*. Directed evolution of cytochrome P450 for sterol epoxidation. Biotechnology Letters 2013, 35(10):1663-8.
3. Zhou N, Zhang Y, Gong X, Wang Q*, Ma Y. Ionic liquids-based hydrolysis of Chlorella biomass for fermentable sugars. Bioresource Technology 2012, 118:512-7.
4. Wang B, Shi A, Tu R, Zhang X, Wang Q*, Bai F. Branched-chain higher alcohols. Advances in Biochemical Engineering/ Biotechnology 2012, 128:101-18.
5. Zhou N, Zhang Y, Wu X, Gong X, Wang Q*. Hydrolysis of Chlorella biomass for fermentable sugars in the presence of HCl and MgCl2. Bioresource Technology 2011, 102(21)：10158-10161 .
6. Qi X, Zhang Y, Tu R, Lin Y, Li X, Wang Q*. High-throughput screening and characterization of xylose-utilizing and ethanol tolerant thermophilic bacteria for bioethanol production. Journal of Applied Microbiology 2011, 110(6):1584-1591.
7. Lin Y, He P, Wang Q*, Lu D, Li Z, Wu C, Jiang N. The alcohol dehydrogenase system in the xylose-fermenting yeast Candida maltosa. PLoS One 2010, 5(7):e11752.
