Zhangjun Fei

Professor
Zhangjun Fei
zf25@cornell.edu
Office/Lab: 227
Phone: 607-254-3234
Office/Lab: 227
Email: zf25@cornell.edu
Office Phone: 607-254-3234
Affiliations: Adjunct Professor / Section of Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology / School of Integrative Plant Science / Cornell University
Graduate Fields: Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology; Plant Biology
Research Areas:    Genomics and Systems
Google Scholar ID
Research Overview

The development of high throughput technologies has given rise to a wealth of information at system level including genome, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome. However, it remains a major challenge to digest the massive amounts of information and use it in an intelligent and comprehensive manner. To address this question, Dr. Fei’s group has focused on developing computational tools and resources to analyze and integrate large scale “omics” datasets,” which help researchers to understand how genes work together to comprise functioning cells and organisms.

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Development of online databases to facilitate data distribution, analysis, mining and integration

Development of computational tools for omics data analysis

  • Plant MetGenMAP – a web-based tool for comprehensive mining and integration of gene expression and metabolite changes in the context of biochemical pathways.
  • iAssembler – A de novo assembly package for transcriptome sequences generated using 454 or Sanger platforms
  • iTAK – A package to identify and classify plant transcription factors and protein kinases.
  • VirusDetect – An automated pipeline for efficient virus discovery using deep sequencing of small RNAs.

Application of NGS technologies and bioinformatics in crop improvement

During the past several years, significant progresses have been made regarding the DNA sequencing technologies. As a result, several next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms, such Illumina HiSeq, have received wide applications due to their high throughput and low cost. We are interested in using NGS technologies to investigate genomes, epigenomes and transcriptomes of several economically important crops including tomato, cucurbits, sweetpotato, and fruit tree crops, to facilitate the understanding of the evolution and regulatory networks of important agronomical traits. We are also using NGS technologies to perform large-scale virus survey for crops like sweet potato and tomato, in an effort to understand global virus diversity, distribution and evolution in important food crops.

Inferring gene regulatory networks

Living cells are the product of gene expression programs involving regulated transcription of thousands of genes. How a collection of transcriptional regulatory factors associates with genes during specific biological processes or under specific environmental conditions can be described as a gene regulatory network. We are interested in developing new algorithms to infer gene regulatory networks by integrating datasets from various different sources, including gene expression data, metabolomics data, promoter sequences, and microRNA information.

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The development of high throughput technologies has given rise to a wealth of information at system level including genome, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome. However, it remains a major challenge to digest the massive amounts of information and use it in an intelligent and comprehensive manner. To address this question, Dr. Fei’s group has focused on developing computational tools and resources to analyze and integrate large scale “omics” datasets”, which help researchers to understand how genes work together to comprise functioning cells and organisms.

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Publications
A Citrullus genus super-pangenome reveals extensive variations in wild and cultivated watermelons and sheds light on watermelon evolution and domestication
2023.
Wu, S., Sun, H., Gao, L., Branham, S., McGregor, C., Renner, S.S., Xu, Y., Kousik, C., Wechter, W.P., Levi, A,. Fei, Zhangjun
Plant Biotechnology Journal.
:
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Starch deficiency in tomato causes transcriptional reprogramming that modulates fruit development, metabolism and stress responses
2023.
Nicolas, P., Pattison, R.J., Zheng, Y., Lapidot-Cohen, T., Brotman, Y., Osorio, S., Fernie, A.R., Fei, Zhangjun, Catala, Carmen.
Journal of Experimental Botany.
:
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Transcriptomic and metabolic profiling of watermelon uncovers the role of salicylic acid and flavonoids in the resistance to cucumber green mottle mosaic virus
2023.
Liu, M., Kang, B., Wu, H., Aranda, M.A., Peng, B., Liu, L., Fei, Zhangjun, Hong, N., Gu, Q.
Journal of Experimental Botany.
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Super-pangenome analyses highlight genomic diversity and structural variation across wild and cultivated tomato species
2023.
Li, N., He, Q.,Wang, J., Wang, B., Zhao, J., Huang, S., Yang, T., Tang, Y., Yang, S., Aisimutuola, P., Xu, R., Hu, J., Jia, C., Ma, K., Li, Z., Jiang, F., Gao, J., Lan, H., Zhou, Y., Zhang, X., Huang, S., Fei, Zhangjun, Wang, H., Li, H., Yu, Q.
Nature Genetics.
55
:
852–860
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Genomic analyses reveal dead-end hybridization between two deeply divergent kiwifruit species rather than homoploid hybrid speciation
2023.
Yu, X., Qin, M., Qu, M., Jiang, Q., Guo, S., Chen, Z., Shen, Y., Fu, G., Fei, Zhangjun, Huang, H., Gao, L., Yao, X.
The Plant Journal.
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SnRK1 kinase-mediated phosphorylation of transcription factor bZIP39 regulates sorbitol metabolism in apple
2023.
Meng, D., Cao, H., Yang, Q., Zhang, M., Borejsza-Wysocka, E., Wang, H., Dandekar, A.M., Fei, Zhangjun, Cheng. L.
Plant Physiology.
:
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The Torreya grandis genome illuminates the origin and evolution of gymnosperm-specific sciadonic acid biosynthesis.
2023.
Lou, H., Song, L., Li, X., Zi, H., Chen, W., Gao, Y., Zheng, S., Fei, Zhangjun, Sun, X., Wu, J.
Nat Commun..
14
:
1315
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Characterization of the USDA Cucurbita pepo, C. moschata, and C. maxima germplasm collections
2023.
Hernandez, C.O., Labate, J., Reitsma, K., Fabrizio, J., Bao, K., Fei, Zhangjun, Grumet, R., Mazourek, M.
Frontiers in Plant Science.
14
:
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Loss of OPT3 function decreases phloem copper levels and impairs crosstalk between copper and iron homeostasis and shoot-to-root signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana
2023.
Chia, J.C., Yan, J., Rahmati Ishka, M., Faulkner, M.M., Simons, E., Huang, R., Smieska, L., Woll, A., Tappero, R., Kiss, A., Jiao, C., Fei, Zhangjun, Kochian, L.V., Walker, E., Piñeros, M., Vatamaniuk, O.K.
Plant Cell.
35
:
2157–2185
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Horizontally transferred genes as RNA interference targets for aphid and whitefly control
2022.
Feng, H., Chen, W., Hussain, S., Shakir, S., Tzin, V., Adegbayi, F., Ugine, T., Fei, Zhangjun, Jander, Georg
Plant Biotechnol J..
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Domestication and selection footprints in Persian walnuts (Juglans regia)
2022.
Luo, X., Zhou, H., Cao, D., Yan, F., Chen, P., Wang, J., Woeste, K., Chen, X., Fei, Zhangjun, An, H., Malvolti, M., Ma, K., Liu, C., Ebrahimi, A., Qiao, C., Ye, H., Li, M., Lu, Z., Xu, J., Cao, S., Zhao, P.
PLoS Genet..
18
:
e1010513
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Limited conservation in cross-species comparison of GLK transcription factor binding suggested wide-spread cistrome divergence.
2022.
Tu, X., Ren, S., Shen, W., Li, J., Li, Y., Li, C., Li, Y., Zong, Z., Xie, W., Grierson, D., Fei, Zhangjun, Giovannoni, James J., Li, P., Zhong, S.
Nat Commun..
13
:
7632
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CuGenDBv2: an updated database for cucurbit genomics.
2022.
Yu, J., Wu, S., Sun, H., Wang, X., Tang, X., Guo, S., Zhang, Z., Huang, S., Xu, Y., Weng, Y., Mazourek, M., McGregor, C., Renner, S.S., Branham, S., Kousik, C., Wechter, W.P., Levi, A., Grumet, R., Zheng, Y., Fei, Zhangjun
Nucleic Acids Res..
51
:
D1457–D1464
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Loss of function of the bHLH transcription factor Nrd1 in tomato enhances resistance to Pseudomonas syringae
2022.
Zhang, N., Hecht, C., Sun, X., Fei, Zhangjun, Martin, Gregory B.
Plant Physiol..
190
:
1334–1348
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Spatiotemporal dynamics of the tomato fruit transcriptome under prolonged water stress.
2022.
Nicolas, P., Shinozaki, Y., Powell, A., Philippe, G., Snyder, S.I., Bao, K., Zheng, Y., Xu, Y., Courtney, L., Vrebalov, J., Casteel, C.L., Mueller, Lukas A., Fei, Zhangjun, Giovannoni, James J., Rose, J.K.C., Catalá, Carmen
Plant Physiol..
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Rapid growth of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis): Cellular roadmaps, transcriptome dynamics, and environmental factors
2022.
Chen, M., Guo, L., Ramakrishnan, M., Fei, Zhangjun., Vinod, K.K., Ding, Y., Jiao, C., Gao, Z., Zha, R., Wang, C., Gao, Z., Yu, F., Ren, G., Wei, Q.
The Plant Cell.
34
:
3577–3610
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Cellular differentiation, hormonal gradient, and molecular alternation between the division zone and the elongation zone of bamboo internodes
2022.
Guo, L., Wang, C., Chen, J., Ju, Y., Yu, F., Jiao, C., Fei, Zhangjun, Ding, Y., Wei, Q.
Physiologia Plantarum.
174
:
e13744
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An apple somatic mutation of delayed fruit maturation date is primarily caused by a retrotransposon insertion-associated large deletion
2022.
Ban, S., El-Sharkawy, I., Zhao, J., Fei, Zhangjun, Xu, K.
The Plant Journal.
111
:
1609–1625
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Genome Sequencing of up to 6,000-Year-Old Citrullus Seeds Reveals Use of a Bitter-Fleshed Species Prior to Watermelon Domestication
2022.
Pérez-Escobar, O.A., Tusso, S., Przelomska, N.A.S., Wu, S., Ryan, P., Nesbitt, M., Silber, M.V., Preick, M., Fei, Zhangjun, Hofreiter, M., Chomicki, G., Renner, S.S.
Molecular Biology and Evolution.
39
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Long-Term Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG Storage at Ambient Temperature in Vegetable Oil: Viability and Functional Assessments
2022.
Davachi, S.M., Dogan, B., Khazdooz, L., Zhang, S., Khojastegi, A., Fei, Zhangjun, Sun, H., Meletharayil, G., Kapoor, R., Simpson, K.W., Abbaspourrad, A.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
70
:
9399–9411
View
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