Research Experience
2024-now: Principal Investigator, Beijing Advanced Center of RNA Biology, Peking University
2021-now: Principal Investigator, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University
2020-now: Assistant Professor, Principal Investigator, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Peking University
2012-2019: Associated Professor, Co-Principal Investigator, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Peking University
2009-2012: Postdoc Fellow, The University of Chicago
2007-2008: Visiting Student, The University of Chicago
2007-2012: Ph.D. in Chemistry, China Agricultural University
1998-2002: B.S. in Chemistry, China Agricultural University
Honors and Awards
The 19th China Young Female Scientist Award by All-China Women’s Federation, China Association for Science and Technology, National Commission of China for UNESCO, and L’OREAL (Year of 2023) Distinguish Young Scholar Fund by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Year of 2022) Excellent Young Scholar Fund by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Year of 2018)
Research Interests
Analogous to DNA and histone epigenetic modifications, RNA contains reversible and dynamic chemical modifications (eg. The first discovered reversible RNA modification N6-methyladenosine), that regulate RNA processing and metabolism, thereby affecting multiple biological processes and diseases. The new and fast expanding research area was termed as RNA epigenetics or epitranscriptomics. The epitranscriptomic marks can be “written”, “read”, and “erased” via the action of a complex network of proteins. RNA contains more than 150 modifications, however, the functions of most of them are unknown.
Our research focuses on the functions of RNA modifications in regulation of human diseases and plant development. Through application of the tools from chemical biology, cell biology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics, we will develop the Chemical labeling methods for detection of RNA modifications, characterize the writers, erasers, and readers for RNA modifications to uncover the unknown regulatory roles, and elucidate the molecular mechanism of RNA modifications in human diseases and plant developments. Research projects include:
- Development of the chemical labeling methods for detection of RNA modifications;
- Characterization of the writers, erasers, and readers for RNA modifications to uncover the unknown regulatory roles in plant development and stress responses;
- Modulating plant epitranscriptomic modifications to achieve economically impactful agronomic traits;
- The biological functions of epitranscriptomics/RNA modifications in human health;
- Development of small molecule tuning of epitranscriptomic regulation.
Selected Publications
- Zhihe Cai #, Qian Tang #, Peizhe Song #, Enlin Tian, Junbo Yang, Guifang Jia*. The m6A reader ECT8 is an abiotic stress sensor that accelerates mRNA decay in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell, 2024, doi: 10.1093/plcell/koae149.
- Song Cui#, Peizhe Song#, Chaolong Wang, Saihua Chen, Benyuan Hao, Zhuang Xu, Liang Cai, Xu Chen, Shanshan Zhu, Xiangchao Gan, Hui Dong, Yuan Hu, Liang Zhou, Haigang Hou, Yunlu Tian, Xi Liu, Liangming Chen, Shijia Liu, Ling Jiang, Haiyang Wang, Guifang Jia*, Shirong Zhou*, Jianmin Wan*. The RNA binding protein EHD6 recuits the m6A reader YTH07 and sequesters OsCOL4 mRNA into phase-separated ribonucleoprotein condensates to promote rice flowering. Mol. Plant, 2024, 17 (6), 935-954.
- Mengyan Bai#, Wenxin Lin#, Chunyan Peng#, Peizhe Song#, Huaqin Kuang, Jieni Lin, Jieping Zhang, Jiyao Wang, Bo Chen, Huarong Li, Fanjiang Kong, Guifang Jia*, Yuefeng Guan*. Expressing a human RNA demethylase as an assister improves gene-editing efficiency in plants. Molecular Plant, 2024, 17, 363-366.
- Hong-Chao Duan#, Chi Zhang#, Peizhe Song, Junbo Yang, Ye Wang, Guifang Jia*. C2-methyladenosine in tRNA promotes protein translation by facilitating the decoding of tandem m2A-tRNA-dependent codons. Nature Communications, 2024, 15(1), 1025.
- Lin Zhang#, Hong-Chao Duan#, Marcin Paduch#, Jingyan Hu, Chi Zhang, Yajuan Mu, Houwen Lin, Chuan He, Anthony A. Kossiakoff, Guifang Jia*, Liang Zhang*. The molecular basis of human ALKBH3 mediated RNA N1-methyladenosine (m1A) demethylation. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2024, 63(7), e202313900.
- Qiong Yu#, Shun Liu#, Lu Yu, Yu Xiao, Shasha Zhang, Xueping Wang, Yingying Xu, Hong Yu, Yulong Li, Junbo Yang, Jun Tang, Hong-Chao Duan, Lian-Huan Wei, Haiyan Zhang, Jiangbo Wei, Qian Tang, Chunling Wang, Wutong Zhang, Ye Wang, Peizhe Song, Qiang Lu, Wei Zhang, Shunqing Dong, Baoan Song*, Chuan He*, Guifang Jia*. RNA demethylation increases the yield and biomass of rice and potato plants in the field trials. Nature Biotechnology, 2021, 39, 1581-1588.
- Congyao Xu#, Zhe Wu#, Hong-Chao Duan#, Xiaofeng Fang, Guifang Jia*, Caroline Dean*. R-loop resolution promotes co-transcriptional chromatin silencing. Nature Communications, 2021, 12, 1790.
- Peizhe Song#, Junbo Yang#, Chunling Wang, Qiang Lu, Linqing Shi, Subiding Tayier, Guifang Jia*. Arabidopsis N6-methyladenosine reader CPSF30-L recognizes FUE signal to control polyadenylation site choice in liquid-like nuclear body. Molecular Plant, 2021, 14, 571-587.
- Ye Wang, Yu Xiao, Shunqing Dong, Qiong Yu, Guifang Jia*. Antibody-free enzyme-assisted chemical approach for detection of N6-methyladenosine. Nature Chemical Biology, 2020, 16, 896-903.
- Xiao Zhang#, Lian-Huan Wei#, Yuxin Wang#, Yu Xiao#, Jun Liu, Wei Zhang, Ning Yan, Gubu Amu, Xinjing Tang, Liang Zhang*, Guifang Jia*. Structural insights into FTO's catalytic mechanism for the demethylation of multiple RNA substrates. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2019, 116, 2919.
