1999 - 2003  B.S., Peking University, Physics Department

2003 - 2008  Ph.D, Peking University, Physics Department

2009 - 2014  Postdoctoral Research, Purdue University

2014 -           Principal Investigator, CAS Institute of Biophysics　

Cryo-EM is developing fast not only on data process software but also on hardware such as phase plate and direct electron detector. It is playing more and more important role in the modern structure biology.　The molecular weights of the biology samples that are able to be reconstructed at a high resolution (better than 4 angstrom) are extended from 10³~10⁵kD (virus sample for most cases) to 10²kD (protein complexes).

1. Cryo-EM studies of structure and function of micromolecules　

We will use cryo-EM to study the high resolution three-dimensional structures of the important protein complexes at a physiological condition to reveal the relationships between structure and function at an atomic level.

2. Developing cryo-EM

We will develop Cryo-EM to improve the resolution of viruses and protein complexes reconstructions and will extend the usage of cryo-EM.

3. Cryo-EM studies of virus structure, virus entry and virus neutralizing

We are interested in studying the three dimensional structure of the viruses by using single particle method. We are also interested in the structure of viral cellular protein complexes such as virus-antibody complexes and virus-receptor complexes.

1. Cao DF^#, Ma BT^#, Cao ZY^#, Zhang XZ*, Xiang Y*. Structure of Semliki Forest virus in complex with its receptor VLDLR. Cell, 2023,186(10):2208-2218.e15.

2. Cheng J^#, Liu T^#, You X, Zhang F, Sui SF, Wan XH*, Zhang XZ*. Determining protein structures in cellular lamella at pseudo-atomic resolution by GisSPA. Nature Communications, 2023, 14(1):1282.

3. You X^#, Zhang X^#, Cheng J^#, Xiao YN^#, Ma JF, Sun S, Zhang XZ*, Wang HW* & Sui SF*. In situ structure of the red algal phycobilisome-PSII-PSI-LHC megacomplex. Nature, 2023, 616(7955):199-206.

4. Shi HG^#, Wu CL^#, Zhang XZ. Addressing compressive deformation of proteins embedded in crystalline ice. Structure, 2023, 31(2):213-220.e3.

5. Wang M^#, Sun ZZ ^#, Cui CX^#, Wang SD, Yang DC, Shi ZB, Wei XY, Wang PF, Sun WY, Zhu J, Li JQ, Du BC, Liu ZS, Wei LL, Liu CG, He XJ, Wang XX*, Zhang XZ*, Wang JF*. Structural Insights into Alphavirus Assembly Revealed by the Cryo-EM Structure of Getah Virus. Viruses, 2022, 14(2):327.

6. Zhu DJ, Shi HG, Wu CL & Zhang XZ. An electron counting algorithm improves imaging of proteins with low-acceleration-voltage cryoelectron microscope. Communications Biology, 2022, 5(1):321.

7. Su XD^#, Cao DF^#, Pan XW*, Shi, LF, Liu ZF, Dall'Osto L, Bassi R, Zhang XZ* and Mei Li*. Supramolecular assembly of chloroplast NADH dehydrogenase-like complex with photosystem I from Arabidopsis thaliana. Molecular Plant, 2022, 15, 454-467.

8. Ma J ^#, Zhang SY^# & Zhang XZ. Structure of Machupo virus polymerase in complex with matrix protein Z. Nature Communications, 2021; 12: 6163.

9. Ma BT^#, Huang CQ^#, Ma J^#, Xiang Y* & Zhang XZ*. Structure of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus with its receptor LDLRAD3. Nature, 2021, 598(7882): 677-681.

10. Cheng J, Li BF, Si L, Zhang XZ. Determining structures in a native environment using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy images. The Innovation. 2021, 2(4): 100166.

11. Wu CL^#, Shi HG^#, Zhu DJ, Fan KL, Zhang XZ. Low-cooling-rate freezing in biomolecular cryo-electron microscopy for recovery of initial frames. QRB Discovery. 2021: e11.

12. Li BF, Zhu DJ, Shi HG, Zhang XZ. Effect of charge on protein preferred orientation at the air-water interface in cryo-electron microscopy. Journal of Structural Biology, 2021, 213(4): 107783.

13. Cheng J, Zhang XZ. Optimizing weighting functions for cryo-electron microscopy. Biophysics Reports. 2021, 7 (2), 152-158.

14. Song GT^#, Xu BJ^#, Shi HG^#, Zhang Y, Zhang DJ, Cao XT, Liu ZR, Guo R, Guan YZ, Chu YH, Zhang XZ*, Lou JZ*, Qin Y*. Conformational activation of ribosome recycling by intra- and inter-molecular dynamics of RRF. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 2020, 160: 1212-1219.

15. Xu X^#, Shi HG ^#, Gong XW, Chen P, Gao Y, Zhang XZ*, Xiang S*. Structural insights into sodium transport by the oxaloacetate decarboxylase sodium pump. eLife, 2020, 9 :e53853.

16. Zhang MF^#, Shi HG^#, Zhang XM^#, Zhang XZ*, Huang YH*. Cryo-EM structure of the nonameric CsgG-CsgF complex and its implications for controlling curli biogenesis in Enterobacteriaceae. PLoS Biology, 2020, 18(6): e3000748.

17. Fan XY^#, Cao DF^#*, Kong LF, Zhang XZ*. Cryo-EM analysis of the post-fusion structure of the SARS-CoV spike glycoprotein. Nature Communications, 2020, 11(1): 3618.

18. Cao DF^#, Han XN^#, Fan XY^#, Xu RM*, Zhang XZ*. Structural basis for nucleosome-mediated inhibition of cGAS activity. Cell Research, 2020.

19. Gao YN^#, Cao DF^#, Zhu JP, Feng H, Luo X, Liu SQ, Yan XX, Zhang XZ*, Gao P*. Structural insights into assembly, operation and inhibition of a type I restriction-modification system. Nature Microbiology, 2020, 5(9): 1107-1118.

20. Pan XW^#, Cao DF^#, Xie F^#, Xu F^#, Su XD, Mi HL*, Zhang XZ*, Li M*. Structural basis for electron transport mechanism of complex I-like photosynthetic NAD(P)H dehydrogenase. Nature Communications, 2020, 11(1): 610.

21. Cao P^#, Cao D^#, Si L, Su XD, Tian LJ, Chang WR, Liu ZF, Zhang XZ*, Li M*. Structural basis for energy and electron transfer of the photosystem I-IsiA-flavodoxin supercomplex. Nature Plants, 2020, 6(2): 167-176.

22. Liu S^#, Luo YZ^#, Wang YJ^#, Li SH^#, Zhao Z, Bi YH, Sun JQ, Peng RC, Song H, Zhu DJ, Sun Y, Li S, Zhang L, Wang W, Sun YP, Qi JX, Yan JH, Shi Y *, Zhang XZ*, Wang PY*, Qiu HJ* and Gao GF*. Cryo-EM Structure of the African Swine Fever Virus. Cell Host & Microbe, 2019, 26(6): 836-843 e833.

23. Wu CL^#, Huang XJ^#, Cheng J, Zhu DJ, Zhang XZ. High-quality, high-throughput cryo-electron microscopy data collection via beam tilt and astigmatism-free beam-image shift. Journal of Structural Biology,2019.

24. Su XD^#, Ma J^#, Pan XW^#, Zhao XL, Chang WR, Liu ZF, Zhang XZ* and Li M*. Antenna arrangement and energy transfer pathways of a green algal photosystem-I-LHCI supercomplex. Nature Plants, 2019, 5(3): 273-281.

25. You L^#, Ma J^#, Wang J^#, Artamonova D, Wang M, Liu L, Artamonova D, Wang M, Liu L, Xiang H, Severinov K. Zhang XZ* and Wang YL*. Structure Studies of the CRISPR-Csm Complex Reveal Mechanism of Co-transcriptional Interference. Cell, 2019, 176(1-2): 239-253 e216.

26. Fang QL^#, Zhu DJ^#, Agarkova I, Adhikari J, Klose T, Liu Y, Chen ZG, Sun YY, Michael L. Gross, Van Etten J, Zhang XZ* & Rossmann MG*. Near-atomic structure of a giant virus. Nature Communications, 2019, 10(1): 388.

27. Pan XW^#, Ma J^#, Su XD^#, Cao P, Chang W, Liu ZF, Zhang XZ*, Li M*. Structure of the maize photosystem I supercomplex with light-harvesting complexes I and II. Science, 2018, 360(6393): 1109-1113.

28. Wang JL^#, Yuan S^#, Zhu DJ^#, Tang H, Wang N, Chen WY, Gao Q, Li YH, Wang JZ, Liu HR*, Zhang XZ*, Rao ZH*, Wang XX*. Structure of the herpes simplex virus type 2 C-capsid with capsid-vertex-specific component. Nature Communications, 2018, 9(1): 3668.

29. Yuan S^#, Wang JL^#, Zhu DJ^#, Wang N, Gao Q, Chen WY, Tang H, Wang JZ*, Zhang XZ*, Liu HR*, Rao ZH*, Wang XX*. Cryo-EM structure of a herpesvirus capsid at 3.1 Å. Science, 2018, 360(6384).

30. Zhu DJ, Wang XX, Fang QL, Van Etten JL, Rossmann MG, Rao ZH, Zhang XZ. Pushing the resolution limit by correcting the Ewald sphere effect in single-particle Cryo-EM reconstructions. Nature Communications, 2018, 9(1): 1552.

31. Chen LH^#, Wang M^#, Zhu DJ^#, Sun ZH^#, Ma J, Wang JL, Kong LF, Wang SD, Liu ZS, Wei LL, He YW, Wang JF*, Zhang XZ*. Implication for alphavirus host-cell entry and assembly indicated by a 3.5 Å resolution cryo-EM structure. Nature Communications, 2018, 9(1): 5326.　　

32. Yuan Y^#, Cao DF^#, Zhang YF^#, Ma J^#, Qi JX, Wang QH, Lu GW, Wu Y, Yan JH, Shi Y*, Zhang XZ* & Gao GF*. Cryo-EM structures of MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV spike glycoproteins reveal the dynamic receptor binding domains, Nature Communications, 2017, 8:15092.

33. Liu L^#, Li XY^#, Ma J^#, Li ZQ^#, You LL, Wang JY, Wang M, Zhang XZ*, Wang YL*. The Molecular Architecture for RNA-Guided RNA Cleavage by Cas13a. Cell, 2017, 170(4):714-726.e10.　　

34. Su XD^#, Ma J^#, Wei XP^#, Cao P^#, Zhu DJ, Chang WR, Liu ZF*, Zhang XZ*, Li M*. Structure and assembly mechanism of plant C2S2M2-type PSII-LHCII supercomplex. Science, 2017, 357 (6353): 815-820.

35. Wei XP^#, Su XD^#, Cao P, Liu XY, Chang WR, Li M*, Zhang XZ*, Liu ZF*. Structure of spinach photosystem II-LHCII supercomplex at 3.2 Å resolution. Nature, 2016; 534(7605):69-74.

36. Wang JY^#, Ma J^#, Cheng Z, Meng X, You LL, Wang M, Zhang XZ*, Wang YL*. A CRISPR evolutionary arms race: structural insights into viral anti-CRISPR/Cas responses. Cell Research, 2016, 26:1165-1168.

37. Sun L^#, Zhang XZ^#, Gao S^#, Rao PA, Padilla-Sanchez V, Chen ZG, SunSY, Xiang Y, Subramaniam S, Rao VB*, and Rossmann MG*. Cryo-EM structure of the bacteriophage T4 portal protein assembly at near-atomic resolution. Nature Communications, 2015, 6: 7548.

38. Zhang XZ, Sheng J, Austin SK, Hoornweg TE, Smit JM, Kuhn RJ, Diamond MS, and Rossmann MG. Structure of acidic pH dengue virus showing the fusogenic glycoprotein trimers. Journal of Virology, 2015, 89: 743-750.

39. Sun L^#, Young LN^#, Zhang XZ^#, Boudko SP, Fokine A, Zbornik E, Roznowski AP, Molineux IJ, Rossmann MG* and Fane BA*.Icosahedral bacteriophage PhiX174 forms a tail for DNA transport during infection. Nature, 2014, 505: 432-435.

40. Zhang XZ, Sheng J, Plevka P, Kuhn RJ, Diamond MS, and Rossmann MG. Dengue structure differs at the temperatures of its human and mosquito hosts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013, 110: 6795-6799.

Highlighted by Nature (May 23, 2013, 497 7450 443-444), Cell (May 9, 2013, 153 4 727-729) and Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (May 6, 2013, 20 546)

41. Zhang XZ, Sun SY, Xiang Y, Wong J, Klose T, Raoult D, and Rossmann MG. Structure of Sputnik, a virophage, at 3.5 Å resolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,2012, 109:18431-18436.

42. Zhang XZ, Xiang Y, Dunigan DD, Klose T, Chipman PR, Van Etten JL, and Rossmann MG. Three-dimensional structure and function of the Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus capsid. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011,108:14837-14842.

(From Xinzheng Zhang, July 12, 2023)