Principal Investigator

Qing Yang Lab

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Qing Yang
Professor
Email: qingyang@caas.cn
Introduction
Dr. Qing Yang joined Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences after being a thirteen-year tenure professor of biochemistry at Dalian University of Technology, China. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering at Dalian University of Technology, China, and did postdoctoral work at Harvard University, USA. Dr. Yang's other working experience includes one year at Uppsala University, Sweden, and two years at University of California, Berkeley, USA. Among her awards are The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (National Natural Science Foundation of China), New Century Excellent Talents in University (Chinese Education Ministry), and Fok Ying-Dong Excellent Young Teacher Award (Chinese Education Ministry).
Research Interest
Dr. Yang devotes herself to chitin biology, paying great attention to chitin degradation and biosynthesis mechanisms. Chitin is an essential structural biopolymer of cell and spore walls and is thus linked to virulence and drug resistance. In insects, chitin is crucial for survival because it is the major constituent of the cuticle and exoskeleton. Its unique physicochemical properties also make it highly attractive for many biomedical and material purposes. The goal of Dr. Yang’s lab is to exploit green molecular targets from chitin degradation and biosynthesis mechanisms to develop novel drugs and agrochemicals. Cutting-edge multi-disciplinary methods such as molecular biology, structural biology, and chemical biology are extensively used. “Molecular targets are the soul for the design of efficient and safe drugs”, she says, “Our job is to make ourselves as Detective Conan, looking for the molecular clues left by pathogens and pests. We capture the key proteins and apply them as a bait to obtain small bio-active molecules to fight against pathogens and pests.”
Selected Publications
Book
1.	Yang Q, Fukamizo T. Targeting Chitin-containing Organisms. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Springer Nature. 2019
Articles
1.	Qunfei Zhao, Zheng Zhuang, Tian Liu, Qing Yang, Qing-Li He, Wen Liu, and Guo-Qiang Lin. 2022. Unsymmetrically regioselective homodimerization depends on the subcellular colocalization of laccase/fasciclin protein in the biosynthesis of phlegmacins. ACS Chemical Biology 17(4): 791–796
2.	Yanwei Duan, Weixing Zhu, Xiaoming Zhao, Hans Merzendorfer, Jiqiang Chen, Xu Zou, Qing Yang.* 2022. Choline transporter-like protein 2 interacts with chitin synthase 1 and is involved in insect cuticle development. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 141, 103718.
3.	Qi Chen, Wei Chen, Ashutosh Kumar, Xi Jiang, Matej Janezic, Kam Y. J. Zhang, Qing Yang. 2021. Crystal Structure and Structure-Based Discovery of Inhibitors of the Nematode Chitinase CeCht1. Journal of Agricultural and food Chemistry, 69(11): 3519-3526.
4.	Wenqin Li, Yi Ding, Huitang Qi, Tian Liu, Qing Yang. 2021. Discovery of Natural Products as Multitarget Inhibitors of Insect Chitinolytic Enzymes through High-Throughput Screening. Journal of Agricultural and food Chemistry, 69(37): 10830-10837.
5.	Qing Han, Nan Wu, Huilin Li, Jingyu Zhang, Xiang Li, Mingfei Deng, Kai Zhu, Jine Wang, Hongxia Duan, Qing Yang. 2021. A Piperine-Based Scaffold as a Novel Starting Point to Develop Inhibitors against the Potent Molecular Target OfChtI. Journal of Agricultural and food Chemistry, 69(27): 7534-7544.
6.	Tian Liu, Xiaoguang Guo, Yunfei Bu, Yong Zhou, Yanwei Duan, Qing Yang*. 2020. Structural and biochemical insights into an insect gut-specific chitinase with antifungal activity. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 119:103326
7.	Mingbo Qu, Takahiro Watanabe-Nakayama, Shaopeng Sun, Kenichi Umeda, Xiaoxi Guo, Yuansheng Liu, Toshio Ando, Qing Yang. 2020. High-speed atomic force microscopy reveals factors affecting the processivity of chitinases during interfacial enzymatic hydrolysis of crystalline chitin. ACS catalysis, 10: 13606-13615.
8.	Wei Chen, Xi Jiang, Qing Yang.* 2020. Glycoside hydrolase family 18 chitinases: The known and the unknown. Biotechnology Advances, 43: 107553.
9.	Xi Jiang, Ashutosh Kumar, Yasutaka Motomura, Tian Liu, Yong Zhou, Kazuyo Moro, Kam Y. J. Zhang,* Qing Yang.* 2020. A series of compounds bearing a dipyrido-pyrimidine scaffold acting as novel human and insect pest chitinase inhibitors. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 63: 987-1001.
10.	Wei Chen, Yong Zhou, Qing Yang.* 2019. Structural dissection reveals a general mechanistic principle for group II chitinase (ChtII) inhibition. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 294: 9358-9364
11.	Lin Liu, Yong Zhou, Mingbo Qu, Yu Qiu, Xingming Guo, Yuebin Zhang, Tian Liu, Jun Yang, Qing Yang.* 2019. Structural and biochemical insights into the catalytic mechanisms of two insect chitin deacetylases of the carbohydrate esterase 4 family. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 294(15):5774-5783.

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Qing Yang Lab