Personal profile

Primary fields of research

Deyang’s research focus on understanding mechanisms underlining plant communication cross membrane borders, especially at the maternal-filial interface and the interface between plant epidermis and phyllosphere and rhizosphere. This will provide breeding targets to improve nutritional value and plant resilience to (a)biotic stress of oilseed protein crop e.g. rapeseed. 

Current research

Basic research question: How do plants communicate? Plants produce chemical languages to communicate. From the site of synthesis to their site of function, those chemicals need to cross internal borders (e.g. at the maternal-filial interface) and cross external borders (e.g. interface between plant epidermis and phyllosphere and rhizosphere).

Impact: Elucidating molecular mechanisms underlying plant communication will provide breeding targets to improve seed nutritional value (e.g. removing antinutritional compounds) and plant resilience to (a)biotic stress. Currently, I implement single-cell sequencing and spatial transcriptomics to identify key genes expressed at the essential cellular transport barriers in major oilseed crops. Ultimately, I want to develop oilseed crops as ideal protein sources for human consumption in sustainable agriculture.

Expertise: Plant membrane transport of specialized metabolites/Pathway and transport engineering/Gene discovery using multi-omics

I have been using glucosinolate defense compounds as a model system to study the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the synthesis, transport and storage of metabolites and their biological significance in plant communication, including but not limited to the following three subareas:

  • Identification and characterization of transporter complement of glucosinolate defence compounds
  • Pathway and transport engineering of specialized metabolites to improve crop quality
  • Chemical communication in beneficial plant-microbe interaction

 

First and/or corresponding authors of 9 peer-reviewed papers in high-ranking journals (E.g. Nature, Nature Plants, Molecular Plant). Grantee of >10M DKK in external funding. Speaker at high-profile international forums and conferences (e.g. Plant Biology Europe, International Workshop on Plant Membrane Biology). Danish representative of the international PlantACT initiative. Active referee of journals (E.g. Molecular Plant, Plant Communication, Plant Physiology, Plant Biotechnology Journal, New Phytologist) and editorial board member of journals (e.g. Science China Life Sciences and Fundamental Research). Active in teaching, censor and supervision (supervised 20+ PhD, MSc and BSc students and 2 postdocs).

External funding

2024-2025

PI in Innoexplorer Innovation Foundation Denmark (DKK 1.5M)

2023-2026

PI in Novo Nordisk Foundation Project Grant, (DKK 3.0M)

2023-2024

PI in Innoexplorer, Innovation Foundation Denmark (DKK 1.5M)

2023-2024

co-applicant in Pioneer Innovator, Novo Nordisk Foundation, (DKK 1M)

2023-2027

PI in Theme Project Green transition, DFF-FNU (DKK 2.9 M)

2021-2027

Patner in Villum Investigator Program, Partner (Total DKK 30M)

Teaching

Supervision (2016-) : Postdocs: Niels Christian Holm Sanden (Denmark), Carmina Falcato Cabral (Portugal); PhD students: Line Lykke Hansen (Denmark), Laura Dethier (Belgium), Shiwen Yang (China), Fangfei Niu (China), Ruochen Li (China), Jakob Skytte Thorsen (Denmark) ; BSc and MSc students: 9 MSc theses, 1 BSc thesis, 3 ERASMUS internship MSc students and 4 DAAD internship BSc students, 3 Projects outside course scope (PUK)

Teahcing (2019-) : Lectures: Frontiers in Plant Science (MSc  course 2024), Experimental Molecular Biology (EMB) (BSc course 2019-2023) Bioactive Food Components and Health (2019) Lab exercises: Lab exercise in EMB, BSc course (2020-2023), Biochemistry, BSc course, (2021-2022) 

Feedbacks from students:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/deyang-xu-778b1358/details/recommendations/

Certificate: Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (Universitetspædagogikum) (2019) 

CV

Aug 2016 – June 2021

Assistant Professor

DNRF DynaMo Center, University of Copenhagen

July 2021 - 30th Jun 2027

Partner

Villum Investigator program, University of Copenhagen

Aug 2012 - Aug 2016

Postdoc

DNRF DynaMo Center, University of Copenhagen

Sep 2007- Jul 2012

PhD

Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.

Sep 2003- Jul 2007

BSc

Northwest Agriculture University, China

Introductory remarks on publicationslist

My most significant contribution to science is advancing our understanding of the mechanism for the distribution patterns of metabolites at the cellular and subcellular levels. I have identified several transporters of specialized metabolites and revealed transport routes. This includes the route from the site of synthesis to high-level accumulation of glucosinolates - the major defense compounds in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana - in the vacuole of the storage S-cell, as well as the route to the rhizosphere. Recently, I discovered the long-sought exporters that are essential for glucosinolate seed loading. The glucosinolate exporter and importer pairs allow us to elucidate the full apoplast route of metabolites loaded into seed, which fills the missing knowledge gaps based on study transporters of primary metabolites.

My PhD study elucidated molecular mechanisms on how cell division is coordinated with cell differentiation during organ patterning, using Elongator acetyltransferase complex and microRNA396 in Arabidopsis leaf polarity establishment as a model system. 

Education/Academic qualification

Cell cycle regulation and leaf patterning, Ph.D, CAS - Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences

1 Sep 20071 Jun 2012

Award Date: 1 Jul 2012

Seed science and engineering, Bachelor, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University

1 Sep 20031 Jul 2007

Award Date: 1 Sep 2007

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or