About Zheyong XUE
My research interest is metabolic pathways of crops and medicinal plants on sterols and triterpene saponins, and their heterologous biosynthesis using synthetic biology technology. My previous work has characterized several 2,3-oxidosqualene cyclases (OSC) from rice and oat using yeast and tobacco expression system. We identified a triterpene pathway which control pollen coat formation, whose deficiency resulted to humidity sensitive male-sterity. We also dissected the biosynthesis pathway for cholesterol which was the precursor of steroids, such as pathogen defense chemicals avenacosides in oat. We also focused on evolutionary mechanism of plant metabolic diversity and catalytic mechanism of OSC. Using these knowledges above, we aim to create novel active triterpenes and steroids chemicals for anticancer, antibacterial and antiviral treatment.
