3258 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-3258

Office:
Biological Sciences Building West
Room 219
979-458-3462

Lab:
Biological Sciences Building West
Room 217A
979-458-3465

Fax: 979-845-2891
Email: jxiong@mail.bio.tamu.edu

Jin Xiong received his B.S. from Zhongshan University, China, M.S. from Eastern Illinois University, M.S. from Bowling Green State University, and Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University before joining the faculty of the Department of Biology of Texas A&M University in 2001. He is currently assistant professor of Biology and a member of the Program in Microbial Genomics and Genetics.

Jin Xiong has studied a variety of subjects in plant and microbial physiology, biochemistry and evolution. The research topic covers nitrogen fixation, leaf senescence and structure and function of photosystem II. Most significantly, he has recently made major contributions to the understanding of the origin and evolution of photosynthesis. He continues working on interesting issues related to deep evolution of photosynthesis while at the same time developing new research interest in the origin and evolution of circadian rhythms. His research group is probing the circadian activities and mechanisms using purple photosynthetic bacteria as prokaryotic model organisms.

Jin Xiong currently teaches a graduate level course in Bioinformatics.

My main research interest is on the fundamental understanding of the origin and evolution of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is arguably the most important biological process on Earth because this is the process on which most life forms on Earth depend to survive. However, a precise evolutionary scenario of this process has long remained elusive.

To reconstruct the early evolutionary history of photosynthesis, we are focusing on molecular evolution of unique components for photosynthesis, i.e., the proteins and enzymes involved in the formation of photosynthetic reaction centers. To achieve this objective, we obtain bacterial photosynthesis genes using state-of-the-art molecular tools. We sequence a large number of photosynthesis genes, such as Mg-tetrapyrrole biosynthesis genes and reaction center apoprotein genes from diverse photosynthetic bacterial groups that include purple bacteria, green sulfur bacteria, green non-sulfur bacteria, cyanobacteria and heliobacteria. We then reconstruct molecular phylogeny of the photosynthesis gene markers using advanced molecular phylogenetic tools. This work will provide deeper understanding on the origin of the photosynthetic reaction centers as well as photosynthetic process itself.

Another research interest of my group deals with the origin and evolution of circadian rhythms. We have initiated a new research project studying the rhythmic activities of gene expression of purple photosynthetic bacteria in order to discover the mechanism of this behavior as well as evolutionary links between the eukaryotic clock systems and the prokaryotic ones.

Gangloff, M., Ayaluru, M., Xiong, J., Arnot, C. J., Weber, A. N., Sandercock, A. M., Robinson, C. V., Sarisky, R., Holzenburg, A., Kao, C., Gay, N. J. 2008. Structural insight into the mechanism of activation of the Toll receptor by the dimeric ligand Spatzle. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 14629-14635.

Ranjith-Kumar, C. T., Miller, W., Sun, J., Xiong, J., Santos, J., Yarborough, I., Hoose, S., Lamb, R. J., Mills, J., Duffy, K. E., Cunningham, M., Holzenburg, A., Mbow, M. L., Sarisky, R. and Kao, C. 2007. Effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms on toll-like receptor 3 activity and expression in cultured cells. J. Biol. Chem. 282: 17696-17705.

Ranjith-Kumar, C. T., Miller, W., Xiong, J., Russell, W. K., Lamb, R., Santos, J. Duffy, K. E., Cleveland, L. Park, M., Wu, Z., Russell, D. H., Sarisky, R. T., Mbow, M. L. and Kao, C. C. 2007. Biochemical and functional analyses of the human Toll-like receptor 3 ectodomain. J. Biol. Chem. 282: 7668-7678.

Xiong, J., Bauer, C. E. and Pancholy, A. 2007. Insight into the haem d1 biosynthesis pathway in heliobacteria through bioinformatics analysis. Microbiology 153: 3548-3562.

Xiong, J. 2006. Photosynthesis: what color was its origin? Genome Biol. 7: 245 (1-5).

Guo, H. and Xiong, J. 2006. A specific and versatile genome walking technique. Gene 381: 18-23.

Xiong, J. 2006. Essential Bioinformatics. Cambridge University Press. 360 pp. (ISBN 0521600820)

Sun, J. Duffy, K. E., Ranjith-Kumar, C. T., Xiong, J., Lamb, R. J., Santos, J., Masarapu, H., Cunningham, M., Holzenburg, A., Sarisky, R. T., Mbow, M. L. and Kao, C. 2006. Structural and functional analyses of the human toll-like receptor 3: role of glycosylation. J. Biol. Chem. 281: 11144-11151.

Min, H., Guo, H. and Xiong, J. 2005. Rhythmic gene expression in a purple photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides. FEBS Lett. 579, 808-812.

Yoon, H.-S., Lee, M., Xiong, J., and Golden, J. W. 2003. Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 hetY gene influences heterocyst development. J. Bacteriol. 185: 6995-7000.

Katayama, M., Kondo, T., Xiong, J., and Golden, S. S. 2003. LdpA encodes an iron-sulfur protein involved in light-dependent modulation of the circadian period in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942. J. Bacteriol. 185, 1415-1422.

Bailey, M. J., Chong, N. W., Xiong, J., and Cassone, V. M. 2002. Chickens’ Cry2: Molecular analysis of an avian cryptochrome in retinal and pineal photoreceptors. FEBS Lett. 513: 169-174.

Xiong, J. and Bauer, C.E. 2002. A cytochrome b origin of photosynthetic reaction centers: an evolutionary link between respiration and photosynthesis. J. Mol. Biol. 322, 503-521.

Xiong, J. and C.E. Bauer. 2002. Complex evolution of photosynthesis. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 53,503-521.

Xiong, J., W.M. Fischer, K. Inoue, M. Nakahara, and C.E. Bauer. 2000. Molecular evidence for the early evolution of photosynthesis. Science 289, 1724-1730.

Xiong, J., K. Inoue, and C.E. Bauer. 1998. Tracking molecular evolution of photosynthesis by characterization of a major photosynthesis gene cluster from Heliobacillus mobilis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 14851-14856.

Click a cover to view the article:

Xiong, J., W.M. Fischer, K. Inoue, M. Nakahara, and C.E. Bauer. 2000. Molecular evidence for the early evolution of photosynthesis. Science 289, 1724-1730.