# overview
I am interested in understanding the mechanisms of fundamental biological processes in bacteria. My lab uses soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus as the model organism. Several aspects of M. xanthus make it an ideal model for understanding bacterial physiology. First, M. xanthus cells utilize sophisticated systems to move on solid surfaces, which involve cytoplasmic and periplasmic proteins, filamentous cytoskeletons, membrane channels, cell wall, and cell surface components. Second, cells constantly communicate with each other and with their environment. Cells usually move in coordinated groups but also as isolated "adventurous" individuals, which allows this bacterium to feed on soil detritus and prey on other microorganisms. Third, when the availability of nutrients or prey decrease in the environment, most cells exhibit behaviors that include aggregation into fruiting bodies and conversion of individual cells into spores.

I have been using the super resolution photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM) to track single molecule dynamics of proteins in live bacterial cells. With this technique, I have achieved 10 millisecond time resolution (100 frames per second) and 80 nm spatial resolution. These studies were initiated because the most widely used fluorescence microscopy techniques (including confocal, deconvolution, etc.) can only provide resolution to about 200 nm due to the diffraction of light, which is often insufficient for many studies because of the small size of bacterial cells (usually a few hundred nanometers in diameter).

Our research topics cover motility, development (fruiting body formation and biofilm formation), cytoskeleton, and cell wall assembly.

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# keywords[]
2.2 Factors Relating To The Physical Environment

# keywords[]
Factor For Inversion Stimulation Protein

# keywords[]
2.2 Factors Relating To The Physical Environment

# keywords[]
2.2 Factors Relating To The Physical Environment

# keywords[]
2.2 Factors Relating To The Physical Environment

# keywords[]
2.2 Factors Relating To The Physical Environment

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
University of California, Berkeley - (Berkeley, California, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Peking University - (Beijing, Beijing, China)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Inner Mongolia University - (Hohhot, China)

# publications[].label
Bacterial motility complexes require the actin‐like protein, MreB and the Ras homologue, MglA

# publications[].label
Mechanisms for bacterial gliding motility on soft substrates.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Myxococcus xanthus as a Model Organism for Peptidoglycan Assembly and Bacterial Morphogenesis.

# publications[].label
A Model for Bacterial Motility Utilizing Helical Cytoskeleton Filaments and Ion-Driven Motors

# publications[].label
Integrin-like adhesin CglD confers traction and stabilizes bacterial focal adhesions involved in myxobacterial gliding motility

# publications[].label
Hybrid promiscuous (Hypr) GGDEF enzymes produce cyclic AMP-GMP (3′, 3′-cGAMP)

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Cancer Nanotherapy: Investigating Subcellular Compartment Targeting Effect of Porous Coordination Cages for Enhancing Cancer Nanotherapy (Small 47/2018)

# publications[].label
Myxobacteria gliding motility requires cytoskeleton rotation powered by proton motive force.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
A lytic transglycosylase connects bacterial focal adhesion complexes to the peptidoglycan cell wall.

# publications[].label
From signal perception to signal transduction: ligand‐induced dimeric switch of DctB sensory domain in solution

# publications[].label
Flagella stator homologs function as motors for myxobacterial gliding motility by moving in helical trajectories.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
FIS activates glnAp2 in Escherichia coli: role of a DNA bend centered at −55, upstream of the transcription start site

# publications[].label
Flagellar Motor Transformed: Biophysical Perspectives of the Myxococcus xanthus Gliding Mechanism.

# publications[].label
The coordination between penicillin-binding protein 1a (PBP1a) and the hydrolytic peptidase DacB determines the integrity of bacterial cell poles

# publications[].label
Establishing rod shape from spherical, peptidoglycan-deficient bacterial spores.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Second messengers and divergent HD‐GYP phosphodiesterases regulate 3′,3′‐cGAMP signaling

# publications[].label
Coordinated peptidoglycan synthases and hydrolases stabilize the bacterial cell wall.

# publications[].label
De Novo Assembly and Annotation of the Complete Genome Sequence of Myxococcus xanthus DZ2.

# publications[].label
Mechanisms for bacterial gliding motility on soft substrates

# publications[].label
Myxococcus xanthus as a Model Organism for Peptidoglycan Assembly and Bacterial Morphogenesis

# publications[].label
MotAB-like machinery drives the movement of MreB filaments during bacterial gliding motility.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Novel mechanisms power bacterial gliding motility.

# publications[].label
C4-dicarboxylates sensing mechanism revealed by the crystal structures of DctB sensor domain.

# publications[].label
IFT57 stabilizes the assembled intraflagellar transport complex and mediates transport of motility-related flagellar cargo.

# publications[].label
2SA0930 Myxobacterial gliding motility requires cytoskeleton rotation powered by proton motive force(2SA Dynamics of Cell System and Molecular-Machine Components in Bacteria,The 48th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society of Japan)

# publications[].label
PlpA, a PilZ‐like protein, regulates directed motility of the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus

# publications[].label
Identification and solution structures of a single domain biotin/lipoyl attachment protein from Bacillus subtilis.

# publications[].label
Roadmap on emerging concepts in the physical biology of bacterial biofilms: from surface sensing to community formation.

# publications[].label
Purification and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of the ligand-binding domain of Sinorhizobium meliloti DctB.

# publications[].label
Bacteria that glide with helical tracks.

# publications[].label
The induction of Sinorhizo-bium meliloti C4-dicarboxylate transport system (Dct) is regulated by oxygen concen-tration

# publications[].label
Uncovering the mystery of gliding motility in the myxobacteria.

# publications[].label
Bacterial Gliding Motility: Rolling Out a Consensus Model.

# publications[].label
Second messengers and divergent HD-GYP enzymes regulate 3,3-cGAMP signaling

# publications[].label
Exopolysaccharides promote Myxococcus xanthus social motility by inhibiting cellular reversals.

# publications[].label
Investigating Subcellular Compartment Targeting Effect of Porous Coordination Cages for Enhancing Cancer Nanotherapy.

# publications[].label
A multi‐protein complex from Myxococcus xanthus required for bacterial gliding motility

# publications[].label
The polarity of myxobacterial gliding is regulated by direct interactions between the gliding motors and the Ras homolog MglA.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Myxococcus xanthus, a nonpathogenic bacterium, eliminates Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungal pathogen of human, independent of cell-cell contact

# publications[].label
AglZ regulates adventurous (A‐) motility in Myxococcus xanthus through its interaction with the cytoplasmic receptor, FrzCD

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Institutes of Health - (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.preferredLabel
DHHS-NIH-National Institute of General Medical Science

# streetAddress
Texas A&M University; Biology; 3258 TAMU