Xin Wang
University of Florida, FL·Plant Science & Agriculture·Early-career
Every morning, photosynthetic organisms face a sudden switch from darkness to light. Overnight they burn stored carbon, such as starch or glycogen, to survive.
- Fields
Plant Science & Agriculture
Microbiology & Immunology
Biochemistry
- Topics
photosynthesis
cyanobacteria
Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Feb 2027
What they work on
- Characterize the state of the stalled Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle, the carbon-fixing reactions, in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 during dark-to-light transitions, using proteomics and metabolomics.
- Determine how glycogen breakdown replenishes metabolites and restarts carbon dioxide fixation when cyanobacteria move from dark to light, using metabolic flux analysis.
- Test how glycogen metabolism protects Photosystem I, a light-harvesting protein complex, from light-induced damage during the dark-to-light transition, using photochemical analyses.
More about the research
By dawn, many molecules needed to restart photosynthesis are running low. How these organisms restart carbon fixation smoothly at sunrise is still unclear, yet this transition is a stress shared by all photosynthetic life. This project studies the question in cyanobacteria, blue-green algae that photosynthesize much as plants do.
Why it matters
Learning how stored glycogen helps cyanobacteria restart carbon fixation and avoid light damage at dawn could guide synthetic-biology efforts to redesign photosynthesis. Over time, this may help improve photosynthetic efficiency in crops and support a more sustainable food supply.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
James Hurley
University of Washington, WA·Biochemistry
Determine how daily cycles shape glycogen metabolism, the stored-sugar reserve, in RPE/choroid tissue, using ex vivo and in vivo measurements of metabolic flux and energy stores.
Fay-Wei Li
Duke University, NC·Plant Science & Agriculture
Determine the chemical structure of the hormogonia-inducing factor (HIF), the diterpenoid signal the hornwort Anthoceros punctatus secretes to recruit cyanobacteria, by purifying it from scaled-up cultures and analyzing it by NMR spectroscopy.
Susan Kalisz
University of Tennessee-Knoxville, TN·Ecology & Evolution
Determine long-term patterns in arbuscular mycorrhizal and pathogenic fungal communities on native plant roots, and how invasion by garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) reorganizes them, using a long-term field invasion experiment.
The school
University of Florida: 65 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 795 research doctorates a year.
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