Chenxiwen

My main research interests are plant stress and seed physiology. I have mainly focused on gene function analysis in rice such as mechanisms involved in abiotic stress and seed deterioration. I have developed transgenic rice plants that disrupted in key enzymes in tocochromanol synthesis and characterized the function of tocopherols and tocotrienols in plant stress and seed longevity. I have cloned several salt-tolerance genes from Dunaliella salina and developed salt tolerant rice germplasms by genetic transformation. I have also developed transgenic rice plants for utilization in hybrid seed production by introducing atzA gene. Recently I have been concentrated on developing salt tolerant rice germplasms with low phytic acid using CRISPR/Cas9 and homologous recombination technology. Utilization of Ng-Ago editing to improve the hydrogen production efficiency in Chlamydomonas is also undergoing. Besides, I have been teaching Biochemistry and Cell Engineering in Nankai University.

Biochemistry for undergraduate student, Cell engineering for Master degree student.

12/2011-, Professor, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University 9/2000-1/2002, Postdoctoral Fellow, CSIC, Aula Dei Research Station, Zaragoza, Spain 9/1999-8/2000, Visiting Scholar, Department of Biology, Kuopio University, Kuopio, Finland 12/1997-11/2011, Associate Professor, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University 9/1996-12/1997, Docent, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University 9/1994-8/1996, Docent, Institute of Genetics, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, China 7/1990-9/1991, Assistant, Institute of Ramie Research, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China

• Seed longevity and germination

• Plant stress physiology

• Rice gene function

• Genome editing

Selected Publications:

1. Yanlong Wang, Xiwen Chen, Xiao Hong, Shipeng Du, Chunxiao Liu, Wenfang Gong, Defu Chen*. Cyclase inhibitor tripropylamine significantly enhanced lycopene accumulation in Blakeslea trispora. J Biosci Bioeng, in-press. (2016)

2. Yuan Guo, Panjie Zhao, Wenhao Zhang, Xiaolong Li, Xiwen Chen, Defu Chen*. Catalytic improvement and structural analysis of atrazine chlorohydrolase by site-saturation mutagenesis. Biosci Biotech Bioch, 80(7): 1336-1343. (2016)

3. Yanlong Wang, Bin Hu, Shipeng Du, Shan Gao, Xiwen Chen*, Defu Chen*. Proteomic analyses reveal the mechanism of Dunaliella salina Ds-26-16 gene enhancing salt tolerance in Escherichia coli. PLoS ONE, 11(5): e0153640. (2016)

4. Fantao Zhang, Tao Xu, Linyong Mao, Shuangyong Yan, Xiwen Chen, Zhenfeng Wu, Rui Chen, Xiangdong Luo, Jiankun Xie*, Shan Gao*. Genome-wide analysis of Dongxiang wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) to investigate lost/acquired genes during rice domestication. BMC Plant Biol, 16: 103. (2016)

5. Defu Chen, Yanlan Li, Tao Fang, Xiaoli Shi, Xiwen Chen*. Specific roles of tocopherols and tocotrienols in seed longevity and germination tolerance to abiotic stress in transgenic rice. Plant Sci, 244: 31-39. (2016)

6. Defu Chen, Haiwei Chen, Luhua Zhang, Xiaoli Shi, Xiwen Chen*. Tocopherol deficient rice plants display increased sensitivity to photooxidative stress. Planta, 239(6): 1351-1362 (2014)

7. Luhua Zhang, Haiwei Chen, Yanlan Li, Yanan Li, Shengjun Wang, Jinping Su, Xuejun Liu, Defu Chen*, Xiwen Chen*. Evaluation of the agronomic performance of atrazine-tolerant transgenic japonica rice parental lines for utilization in hybrid seed production. PLoS ONE, 9(10): e108569 (2014)

8. Wenfang Gong, Lina Zhao, Bin Hu, Xiwen Chen*, Feng Zhang, Zhengmao Zhu, Defu Chen*. Identifying novel salt-tolerant genes from Dunaliella salina using a Haematococcus pluvialis expression system. Plant Cell Tiss Org Cult, 117(1): 113-124 (2014)

9. Songbo Xie, Miao Chen, Bing Yan, Xianfei He, Xiwen Chen*, Dengwen Li*. Identification of a role for the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in innate iImmune cells. PLoS ONE, 9(4): e94496 (2014)

10. Yicun Wang, Xiaolong Li, Xiwen Chen*, Defu Chen*. Directed evolution and characterization of atrazine chlorohydrolase variants with enhanced activity. Biochemistry-Moscow, 78(10): 1104-1111 (2013)

11. Yicun Wang, Feng Zhang, Haiwei Chen, Xiwen Chen*, Defu Chen*. Directed evolution of insoluble Arabidopsis thaliana zeta class glutathione S-transferase mutants for higher solubility in Escherichia coli. J Genet Genomics, 40(6): 319-322 (2013)

12. Lina Zhao, Wenfang Gong, Xiwen Chen*, Defu Chen*. Characterization of genes and enzymes in Dunaliella salina involved in glycerol metabolism in response to salt changes. Phycol Res, 61(1): 37-45 (2013)

13. Defu Chen, Ming Zhang, Yongqin Wang, Xiwen Chen*. Expression of γ-tocopherol methyltransferase gene from Brassica napus increased α-tocopherol content in soybean seed. Biol Plantarum, 56(1): 131-134 (2012)

14. Huizhuan Wang, Xiwen Chen*, Xuguang Xing, Xiaohua Hao, Defu Chen*. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing atzA exhibit resistance and strong ability to degrade atrazine. Plant Cell Rep, 29(12): 1391-1399 (2010)

15. Feixue Chen, Defu Chen, María Pilar Vallés, Zhen Gao, Xiwen Chen*. Analysis of diversity in Chinese cultivated barley with simple sequence repeats: differences between eco-geographic populations. Biochem Genet, 48(1~2): 44-56(2010)

Director and supervisor of Tianjin genetic Society;
Communication Review Expert, Network Voting Expert of Division of Botany, NSFC;
Meeting Review Experts on plant transgenic research of the Ministry of Agriculture;

Review Experts of  Science and technology development center, Ministry of Education

Communication Review Expert of Guangxi and Heilongjiang natural science fundation;
Reviewers for several academic journals.

Biochemistry for undergraduated student

Cell engineering for master degree student.