Bio
Wenhua recieved his 2014 Ph.D in Structural Biology with H. van Tilbeurgh from Université Paris-Sud 11, Orsay, France. Upon completing 3 years and half postdoctoral studies with J. Cherfils in French CNRS, Paris, France, he joined Lanzhou University School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou, China.
Wenhua has a keen interest in how the structural configurations and biological functions of macromolecules are altered by covalent modifications such as post-transcriptional modification of nucleic acids and post-translational modifications of proteins. An increasingly large number of chemical modifications are being characterized along with the expansion of human knowledge and development of highly resolutive techniques, providing insights into dissecting the regulation layers in modifying the structural dynamics and functions. His lab combines molecular biology, protein biochemistry, molecular dynamics and structural biology to characterize the mechanisms and cellular functions of tRNA t6A (N6-threonylcarbamoyladenosine), an essential and complex modification 3' adjacent to anticodon in ANN-decoding tRNAs in the three domains of life. Furthermore, his lab is monitoring and analyzing the cellular metabolic aberrations in context of t6A abnormality. The lab is also developing structure-guided discovery of anti-bacterial and anti-fungal compounds using t6A systems as targets. Nonetheless, our lab is channeling partial efforts in studying the reversible phosphocholination modification of peptides and translating the basics into a removable labeling techniques of macromolecules.
Publications
Galicia, C., Lhospice, S., Varela, P., Trapani, S.,Zhang, W., Navaza, J., Herrou, J., Mignot, T. and Cherfils, J., (2019) MglA functions as a three-state GTPase to control movement reversals ofMyxococcus xanthus.Nature Communications.(In Press)
Das, S., Malaby, A., Nawrotek, A.,Zhang,W., Zeghouf, M., Maslen, S., Skehel, M., Chakravarthy, S., Irving, T., Bilsel, O., Cherfils J. and Lambright, D. (2019) Structural Organization and Dynamics of Homodimeric Cytohesin Family Arf GTPase Exchange Factors in Solution and on Membranes.Structure.(In Press)
Missoury, S., Plancqueel, S., Gallay, I.,Zhang, W.,Liger, D., Durand, D., Dammak, R., Collinet, B. and van Tilbeurgh, H. (2018) The crystal structure of the bacterial TsaB/TsaD/TsaE complex responsible for the essentialt6AtRNA-modification.Nucleic Acids Res.,46,5850-5860.
Pichard-Kostuch A.*,Zhang, W.*, Liger, D., Daugeron, M., Letoquart, J., Gallay, I., Forterre, P., Collinet, B., van Tilbeurgh, H., Basta, T. (2018) Structure-function analysis of Sua5 protein reveals novel functional motifs required for the biosynthesis of the universal tRNAt6A.RNA,24, 926-938.
Ferrandez, Y.*,Zhang, W.*, Peuroi, F., Akendengué, L., Blangy, A., Zeghouf, M. and Cherfils, J. (2017) Allosteric inhibition of the guanine nucleotide exchange factor DOCK5 by a small molecule.Scientific Reports, 7:14409| DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-13619-2|1-13
Zhang, W., Collinet, B., Perrochia, L., Durand, D. and van Tilbeurgh, H. (2015) The ATP-mediated formation of the YgjD-YeaZ-YjeE complex is required for the biosynthesis of tRNA t6A in Escherichia coli.Nucleic Acids Res.,43, 1804-1817.
Zhang, W., Collinet, B., Graille, M., Daugeron, M.C., Lazar, N., Libri, D., Durand, D. and van Tilbeurgh, H. (2015) Crystal structures of the Gon7/Pcc1 and Bud32/Cgi121 complexes provide a model for the complete yeast KEOPS complex.Nucleic Acids Res.,43, 3358-3372.
Perrochia, L., Crozat, E., Hecker, A.,Zhang, W., Bareille, J., Collinet, B., van Tilbeurgh, H., Forterre, P. and Basta, T. (2013) In vitro biosynthesis of a universal t6A tRNA modification in Archaea and Eukarya.Nucleic AcidsRes.,41, 1953-1964.
He, J., Shi, J., Xu, X.,Zhang, W., Wang, Y., Chen, X., Du, Y., Zhu, N., Zhang, J., Wang, Q.et al.(2012) STAT3 mutations correlated with hyper-IgE syndrome lead to blockage of IL-6/STAT3 signalling pathway.Journal of Biosciences,37, 243-257.
Jiang, P., Xu, X., Chen, Y.,Zhang, W., Serradji, N., Yang, J., Dong, C. and Wang, Q. (2010) PMS-1077, a PAF antagonist, induced differentiation of HL-60 cells with its novel activity.Cell Biology International,34, 1227-1230.
Zhang, W., Lv, M., Hai, J., Wang, Q. and Wang, Q. (2010) Dicranostigma leptopodum (maxim) fedde induced apoptosis in SMMC-7721 human hepatoma cells and inhibited tumor growth in mice.Natural Science, 2, 457-463.
Zhang, W., Yang, Y., Lin, C. and Wang, Q. (2010) Antioxidant attenuation of ROS-involved cytotoxicity induced by Paraquat on HL-60 cells.Health,2, 235-261.
