主要研究染色質組裝與表觀遺傳信息傳遞(Chromatin Assembly and Epigenetic Inheritance)機理。現代生命科學研究表明細胞中除了DNA以鹼基排列所編碼的基因組遺傳信息,還有以核小體為基本結構單位組成的染色質所蘊含的表觀遺傳信息。細胞分裂過程中,隨著基因組遺傳信息的高保真複製,染色質結構蘊含的表觀遺傳信息也同樣需要穩定傳遞,並且伴隨基因組遺傳信息被分配到子細胞中。染色質結構蘊含的表觀遺傳信息在子代細胞中的繼承可能會主動或者被動變化,然而其機制尚不清楚,這也是生命科學領域最本質、最神秘的問題之一,和細胞的分化、增殖及多細胞生物的發育息息相關。研究表明,該過程的失調也與多種疾病相關,例如癌症、早衰和神經退行性疾病等。
1. Jianxun Feng#, Haiyun Gan#, Matthew L. Eaton, Hui Zhou, Shuqi Li, Jason A. Belsky, David M. MacAlpine, Zhiguo Zhang* and Qing Li*, Non-coding transcription is a driving force for nucleosome instability in spt16 mutant cells, Molecular and Cellular Biology, 2016, 36:1856-1867. (Article of significant interest selected as Spotlight)
2. Jiayi Yang#, Xu Zhang#, Jianxun Feng#, He Leng, Shuqi Li, Junyu Xiao, Shaofeng Liu, Zhiyun Xu, Jiawei Xu, Di Li, Zhongshi Wang, Jingyang Wang, Qing Li*, The histone chaperone FACT contributes to DNA replication-coupled nucleosome assembly,Cell Reports, 2016,14: 1128-1141.
3. Qing Li#, Rebecca Burgess#, and Zhiguo Zhang* , All roads lead to chromatin: Multiple pathways for histone deposition, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Gene Regulatory Mechanisms, 2012, 1819: 238-46, Review.
4. Dan Su#, Qi Hu#, Qing Li#, James R. Thompson, Gaofeng Cui, Ahmed Fazly, Brian A. Davies, Maria Victoria Botuyan, Zhiguo Zhang* and Georges Mer* , Structural basis for recognition of H3K56-acetylated histone H3–H4 by the chaperone Rtt106, Nature, 2012, 483:104-107.
5. Qing Li and Zhiguo Zhang* , Linking DNA replication to heterochromatin silencing and epigenetic inheritance, Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica, 2012 , 44: 3-13. Review
6. Ahmed Fazly, Qing Li, Qi Hu, Georges Mer, Bruce Horazdovsky and Zhiguo Zhang*, Histone chaperone Rtt106 promotes nucleosome formation using (H3-H4)2 tetramers, J Biol Chem , 2012 , 287:10753-60.