Jianping Hu

### Titles
* Professor
* Director, Molecular Plant Sciences

###Research 
Molecular Mechanisms of the Dynamics of Plant Energy Organelles and their Role in Stress Response
In eukaryotic cells, biochemical reactions are compartmentalized in specific subcellular organelles. Plant mitochondria, peroxisomes, and chloroplasts are essential organelles in development and coordinate in a number of metabolic pathways required for energy capture, conversion, and metabolism. The Hu laboratory is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the dynamic behavior of these energy organelles and their role in plant interaction with the environment.

For adaptation, subcellular organelles can alter their abundance, morphology, distribution and protein composition depending on the developmental and environmental conditions. One major research goal of the Hu lab is to elucidate molecular mechanisms by which peroxisomes and mitochondria proliferate/divide, move, and distribute, to ultimately understand how organelle dynamics contribute to plant robustness and stress response. To this end, we have identified and characterized components of the machineries that govern the biogenesis, division and proliferation of peroxisomes and mitochondria, and revealed transcriptional and post-translational regulatory mechanisms of these processes. We have also established a deep-learning framework to rapidly classify organelle morphology with the goal to facilitate large-scale screens for mutants in organelle dynamics. Current focus is on revealing the mechanisms for the motility of these organelles along the cytoskeleton in the context of photosynthesis, photorespiration and stress response. Another research direction in the Hu lab is the regulation of photorespiration in dynamic environmental conditions and the role of photorespiration in plant defense against pathogens. Through genetic suppressor screening, we have revealed regulatory links between photorespiration and photosynthesis and identified additional factors/non-canonical pathways that modulate photorespiration under dynamic light conditions. Finally, we have begun to investigate the contribution of peroxisomal proteins to seed oil content in soybean, aiming to improve the quality of this important crop. 

Our research has agricultural and economical relevance, as knowledge gained may provide molecular bases for developing strategies for rational engineering of crop plants to improve metabolism, bioenergy production, and defense against environmental stresses. Our research may also provide useful information to biomedical studies in curing human peroxisomal and mitochondrial diseases.

### Education
* Postdoctoral Researcher, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA
* Ph.D., University of Georgia, Athens, GA
* B.S., Peking University, Beijing, China

### Recent Publications
1.	Wang Y, Pan R, Hu J. Impact of acute heat stress on mitochondrial function, ultra-structure, and cardiolipin distribution in Arabidopsis (2024). aBIOTECH in press. 
2.	Wang Y, Jin G, Song S, Jin Y, Wang X, Yang S, Shen X, Gan Y, Wang Y, Li R, Liu J, Hu J, Pan R (2024). A peroxisomal cinnamate:CoA ligase-dependent phytohormone metabolic cascade in submerged rice germination. Dev Cell in press.
3.	Song S, Ye C, Jin Y, Dai H, Hu J, Lian J, Pan R. Peroxisome-based metabolic engineering for biomanufacturing and agriculture (2024). Trends in Biotech. in press. 
4.	Akhter D, Zhang Y, Hu J (co-corresponding author), Pan R (2023). Protein ubiquitination in plant peroxisomes. J. Int Plant Biol. 65: 371-380. DOI: 10.1111/jipb.13346.
5.	Zhang P, Zhu W, He Yi H, Fan J, Shi J, Hu J, Li L, Zhang D, Liang W (2023). THERMO-SENSITIVE BARREN PANICLE (TAP) is required for panicle and spikelet development under high temperature. New Phytol. 237(3):855-869. DOI: 10.1111/nph.18551.
6.	Jiang X, Walker B, He SY, Hu J (2023) The role of photorespiration in plant immunity. Front Plant Sci. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1125945.
7.	Zhang Y, Wang XW, Wang XY, Wang Y, Liu J, Wang S, Li W, Jin Y, Akhter D, Chen J, Hu J, Pan R (2023). Bioinformatic analysis of short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase proteins in plant peroxisomes. Front Plant Sci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1180647. 
8.	Wang L, Patena1 W, Van Baalen KA, Xie Y, Singer ER, Gavrilenko S, Warren-Williams M, Han L, Harrigan HR, Hartz LD, Chen V, Ton V, Kyin S, Shwe HH, Cahn MH, Wilson AT, Onishi M, Hu J, Schnell DJ, McWhite CD, Jonikas M (2023). Chloroplast protein atlas reveals novel structures and spatial organization of biosynthetic pathways. Cell 186:3499-3518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.06.008. Highlighted on the cover of Cell.
9.	Feng Y, Wang Y, Lu H, Li J, Akhter D, Liu F, Zhao T, Shen X, Li X, Whelan J, Zhang T, Hu J, Pan R (2023). Assembly and phylogenomic analysis of cotton mitochondrial genomes provide insights into the history of cotton evolution. The Crop Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2023.05.004.
10.	Hu J, Pan R, Weber AP, Whelan J (2023). Editorial: Photosynthetic and photorespiratory organelles: metabolism, dynamics, and signaling. Front Plant Sci. 14:1293246.. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1293246
11.	Koenig AM, Liu B, Hu J (2023). Visualizing the dynamics of plant energy organelles. Biochem Soc Trans. https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20221093.
12.	Deng Q, Li H, Feng Y, Xu R, Li W, Zhu R, Akhter D, Shen X, Hu J (co-corresponding author), Jiang H, Pan R (2022). Defining upstream enhancing and inhibiting sequence patterns for plant Peroxisome Targeting Signal type 1 using large-scale in silico and in vivo analyses. Plant J. 111: 567-582. doi: 10.1111/tpj.15840.
13.	Li J, Peng J, Jiang X, Rea A, Peng J, Hu J (2021). DeepLearnMOR: a deep-learning framework for fluorescence image-based classification of organelle morphology. Plant Physiol. 186: 1786-1799. 
14.	Li S, Cao Li, Chen X, Liu Y, Persson S, Hu J, Chen M, Chen Z, Zhang D, Yuan Z (2021). Synthetic biosensor for mapping dynamic responses and spatio-temporal distribution of jasmonate in rice. Plant Biotech. J. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.13718.
15.	Pan R. Liu J, Wang S and Hu J (2020). Peroxisomes: versatile organelles with diverse roles in plants. New Phytologist 225: 1410-1427.
16.	Kataya A, Hu J, Muench D and Moorhead G (2020). Plant peroxisomal protein kinases implicated in stress-related responses. In Protein kinases and stress management in plants: functional genomic perspective. Wiley-Blackwell. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119541578.ch22.
17.	Pan R, Liu J and Hu J (2019). Peroxisomes in plant reproduction and seed-related development. J. Int. Plant Biol. 61: 784-802.
18.	Hu J (2019). Plant peroxisomes: small organelles with versatility and complexity. Special issue on Plant Peroxisomes. J Int Plant Biol. 61:782-783.
19.	Li J, Tietz S, Cruz J, Strand D, Xu Y, Chen J, Kramer D, and Hu J (2019) Photometric screens identified Arabidopsis peroxisome proteins that impact photosynthesis under dynamic light conditions. Plant J 97: 460-474.
20.	Li J, Weraduwage SM, Preiser AL, Tietz-Rhodes S, Weise SE, Strand DD, Froelich JE, Kramer DM, Hu J, Sharkey TD (2019). A cytosolic bypass and G6P shunt in plants lacking peroxisomal hydroxypyruvate reductase. Plant Physiol. 180: 783-792. 
21.	Song Y, Li G, Nowak J, Zhang X, Xu D, Yang X, Huang G, Liang W, Yang L, Wang C, Bulone V, Nikoloski Z, Hu J, Persson S, Zhang D (2019). The rice actin-binding protein RMD regulates light-dependent shoot gravitropism. Plant Physiol. 181: 630-644.

### Links
* [Hu lab news](https://prl.natsci.msu.edu/news-and-events/news/index.aspx?tag=Hu+lab)
* [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=(Hu%2C%20Jianping%5BAuthor%5D)%20AND%20Plant%20Research%20Laboratory%5BAffiliation%5D)