Research Overview

My research interests are mainly focused in three areas: 1) Understanding unfolding-mediated protein aggregation and polymerization using the gS-crystallin protein as a tractable model system.  One hydrophobic mutation of this protein, Opj, exhibits a concentration and temperature-dependent protein aggregation.  The progressive nature of Opj in vivo is similar to those mutations commonly detected in age-related cataracts.  2) Elucidating the mechanism of a novel family of nucleotide hydrolases.  RCL is up-graduated by c-Myc oncogene, and proposed to serve as a nucleotide salvage pathway enzyme and/or promote angiogenesis in many tumor cells.  Structural and kinetic studies indicated that RCL shares some similarity with the deoxynucleoside transferases, but more importantly possesses its novelty both in the structure and in its mechanism underlying the enzymatic catalysis. 3) Investigating the protein-nucleic acid and protein-protein interactions critical for gene regulation by the Gfi-1 transcription factor, which is a vital component in hematopoietic process. The six-zinc finger domain of Gfi-1 has been shown to be responsible for these interactions, and mutants within this domain are associated with AML.  In my laboratory, we use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in parallel with multiple biophysical methods to reveal detailed structural and dynamic information of these macromolecules to help providing fundamental insights into their functional mechanism in their related biological processes.

Publications

Sha Zhang#, Davinder Singh#, Yi-Hua Zhu, Katherine J. Zhang, Alejandro Melero, Sophie G. Martin, and Jian-Qiu Wu*. 2025. The Ync13-Rga7-Rng10 complex selectively coordinates secretory vesicle trafficking and secondary septum formation during cytokinesis. #Contributed equally. PLOS Biology PMID: 40463202; PMCID: PMC12132233.

Jack R. Gregory#, Ian Mikale Llaneza#, Aysha H. Osmani, Haley E. Gosselin, S. Amirreza Sabzian, and Jian-Qiu Wu*. 2025. Localizations and functions of septins are susceptible to epitope tagging. #Contributed equally. Mol. Biol. Cell. PMID: 40463252; PMCID: PMC12132285.

Yanfang Ye, Sha Zhang, Jack R. Gregory, Aysha H. Osmani, Evelyn G. Goodyear, Davinder Singh, and Jian-Qiu Wu*. 2025. The MO25 protein Pmo25 functions in contractile-ring stability and Sid2 localization during cytokinesis. iScience. In Press. bioRxiv [Preprint]. September 24:2025.05.13.653815. doi: 10.1101/2025.05.13.653815. PMID: 40463288; PMCID: PMC12132425. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40463288/

Yanfang Ye, Aysha H. Osmani, Zhen-Ru Liu, Addie Kern, and Jian-Qiu Wu. 2025. Fission yeast GPI inositol deacylase Bst1 regulates ER-Golgi transport and functions in late stages of cytokinesis. Mol. Biol. Cell. 2025 Mar 1;36(3):ar27. PMID: 39813093; PMCID: PMC11974966. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39813093/

Singh D, Liu Y, Zhu YH, Zhang S, Naegele S, Wu JQ. 2024. Septins function in exocytosis via physical interactions with the exocyst complex in fission yeast cytokinesis. eLife. Version of Record, Oct. 2025. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.101113 PMID:39026698.

Larissa V. G. Longo, Evelyn G. Goodyear , Sha Zhang , Elena Kudryashova , Jian-Qiu Wu. 2022. Involvement of Smi1 in cell wall integrity and glucan synthase Bgs4 localization during fission yeast cytokinesis. Mol. Biol. Cell. Feb 1;33(2):ar17. PMID: 34910579.