Position: Professor
School/Academic Group: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Email: cmzhao03@whu.edu.cn
Education：
1997.09 - 2001.07 College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University，Bachelor
2001.09 - 2007.12 College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University，Ph.D.
Working Experience：
2008.06 - 2010.05 School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University，Postdoc
2010.06 - 2011.12 Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign，Postdoc
2012.01 – 2020.11 Wuhan University, Associate Professor (During this period, Visiting Scholar at Department Of Chemistry, Boston University in 2017-2019)
2020.10 - now Wuhan University, Professor
Current Teaching Interests/Responsibilities:
Genetic engineering; Biopharmaceuticals
Research Interests:
Natural product
Publications：
1. Chen L#, Zhang L#, Ye X*, Deng Z*, Zhao C*. Ergothioneine and its congeners: Anti-ageing mechanisms and pharmacophore biosynthesis. Protein Cell. 2023 Aug 10:pwad048. doi: 10.1093/procel/pwad048.
2. Chen L#, Zhang LS#, Ye C#, Zhou H, Liu B, Gao B, Deng Z, Zhao C*, He C*, Dickinson BC*.Nm-Mut-seq: a base-resolution quantitative method for mapping transcriptome-wide 2'-O-methylation. Cell Res. 2023 Sep;33(9):727-730. doi: 10.1038/s41422-023-00836-w.
3. Chen L, Deng Z, Zhao C*. Nitrogen-Nitrogen bond formation reactions involved in natural product biosynthesis. ACS Chem Biol. 2021 Apr 16;16(4):559-570. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.1c00052.
4. Deng Q, Liu Y, Chen L, Xu M, Naowarojna N, Lee N, Chen L, Zhu D, Hong X, Deng Z, Liu P*, Zhao C*. Biochemical characterization of a multifunctional mononuclear nonheme iron enzyme (PtlD) in neopentalenoketolactone biosynthesis. Org Lett. 2019 Sep 20;21(18):7592-7596. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.9b02872.
5. Deng Q, Xiao L, Liu Y, Zhang L, Deng Z, Zhao C*. Streptomyces avermitilis industrial strain as cell factory for Ivermectin B1a production. Synth Syst Biotechnol. 2019 Ma;4(1):34-39. doi: 10.1016/j.synbio.2018.12.003
6. Chen L#, Naowarojna N#, Chen B, Xu M, Quill M, Wang J, Deng Z, Zhao C*, and Liu P*. Mechanistic Studies of a Nonheme Iron Enzyme OvoA in Ovothiol Biosynthesis Using a Tyrosine Analogue, 2-Amino-3-(4-hydroxy-3-(methoxyl) phenyl) Propanoic Acid (MeOTyr). ACS Catal. 2019, 9(1): 253-258. doi: 10.1021/acscatal.8b03903
7. Naowarojna N#, Cheng R#, Chen L#, Quill M, Xu M, Zhao C*, Liu P*. Mini-Review: Ergothioneine and ovothiol biosyntheses, an unprecedented trans-sulfur strategy in natural product biosynthesis. Biochemistry. 2018 Jun 19;57(24):3309-3325. doi: 10.1021/acs.biochem.8b00239.
8. Chen L, Naowarojna N, Song H, Wang S, Wang J, Deng Z, Zhao C*, Liu P*. Use of a tyrosine analogue to modulate the two activities of a nonheme iron enzyme OvoA in ovothiol biosynthesis, cysteine oxidation versus oxidative C-S bond formation. J Am Chem Soc. 2018 Apr 4;140(13):4604-4612. doi: 10.1021/jacs.7b13628.
9. Deng Q, Zhou L, Luo M, Deng Z, Zhao C*. Heterologous expression of Avermectins biosynthetic gene cluster by construction of a Bacterial Artificial Chromosome library of the producers. Synth Syst Biotechnol. 2017 Mar 24;2(1):59-64. doi: 10.1016/j.synbio.2017.03.001.
10. Li M, Chen L, Deng Z, Zhao C*. Characterization of AmtA, an amidinotransferase involved in the biosynthesis of phaseolotoxins. FEBS Open Bio. 2016 May 16;6(6):603-609. doi: 10.1002/2211-5463.12071.
11. Chen L, Li P, Deng Z, Zhao C*. Ornithine transcarbamylase ArgK plays a dual role for the self-defense of phaseolotoxin producing Pseudomonas syringae pv.phaseolicola. Sci Rep. 2015 Aug 10;5:12892. doi: 10.1038/srep12892.
12. Hao C#, Huang S#, Deng Z, Zhao C*, Yu Y*. Mining of the pyrrolamide antibiotics analogs in Streptomyces netropsis reveals the amidohydrolase-dependent “iterative strategy” underlying the pyrrole polymerization. PLoS One. 2014 Jun 5;9(6):e99077. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099077.
13. Evans BS*, Zhao C, Gao J, Evans CM, Ju KS, Doroghazi JR, van der Donk WA, Kelleher NL, Metcalf WW*. Discovery of the antibiotic phosacetamycin via a new mass spectrometry-based method for phosphonic acid detection. ACS Chem Biol. 2013 May 17;8(5):908-913. doi: 10.1021/cb400102t.
14. Zhao C, Huang T, Chen W, Deng Z*. Enhancement of the diversity of polyoxins by a thymine-7-hydroxylase homolog outside the polyoxin biosynthesis gene cluster. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2010. 76(21):7343-7347
15. Zhao C, Song C, Yu Z and Sun M*. L-2,3-diaminopropionate: one of the building blocks for the biosynthesis of Zwittermicin A in Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki strain YBT-1520. FEBS Lett. 2008. 582(20):3125-3131
16. Zhao C, Zeng H, Yu Z and Sun M*. N-acyl homoserine lactonase promotes prevention of Erwinia virulence with Zwittermicin A producing strain Bacillus cereus. Biotechnol Bioeng. 2008. 100(3):599-603
17. Zhao C, Luo Y, Song C, Liu Z, Chen S, Yu Z and Sun M*. Identification of three Zwittermicin A biosynthesis-related genes from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki strain YBT-1520. Arch Microbiol. 2007. 187(4):313-319
