About

Nian Wang holds the Mr. and Mrs. J. R. (Rip) Graves Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair. His research focuses on the molecular genetics and functional genomics of plant-bacteria interactions. Specifically, he works on methods to control citrus diseases caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, which is responsible for Citrus Greening, and Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri, the pathogen behind Citrus Canker.

Research topics

• Biology
• Biochemistry
• Genetics
• Food science
• Pathology
• Biotechnology
• Agronomy
• Chemistry
• Computational biology
• Medicine
• Microbiology
• Neuroscience
• Cell biology
• Immunology

Selected publications

• Genetic Basis of α-1,3 Galactose Epitopes in Animal Reservoirs of Coronaviruses

  Phenomics · 2026-05-07

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Development of a High-Efficiency Hairy Root Transformation System for Diverse Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) Genotypes

  Plants · 2026-05-20

  articleOpen access

  Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is a globally cultivated leguminous crop, but an efficient and stable genetic transformation system for cowpea is lacking. Thus, in this study, using different cowpea accessions, the main factors (genotype, explant, Agrobacterium strain for infection, and vector) affecting genetic transformation efficiency were systematically screened. Among the 43 cowpea accessions, two accessions (JD-0212 and A132) whose in vitro regeneration frequencies were high (propagation coefficient > 0.8 and adventitious bud induction index > 0.7) were identified. A system with a high infection rate for the two cowpea accessions was subsequently constructed, including cotyledonary nodes with cotyledons as the optimal explants, the Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain K599 and the rbcs-RUBY vector. Next, the system was optimized for its transformation conditions, such as infection duration, vacuum infiltration parameters and cocultivation time. The maximum transformation efficiency of genotype JD-0212 reached 82.79% under the optimal transformation conditions: 60 min of infection combined with 30 s of vacuum infiltration (−0.08 MPa), followed by four days of cocultivation. Furthermore, the transformation efficiency was validated in 86 cowpea accessions using two distinct vectors (rbcs-RUBY and bs-EGFP), indicating an average transformation efficiency of 42.09% (ranging between 4.04% and 82.79%). An efficient hairy root genetic transformation system for cowpea was established in this study.

  PublisherDOI

• REF1 peptides significantly enhance transformation efficiency but inhibit shoot regeneration in citrus <i>Agrobacterium</i> -mediated transformation

  Horticulture Research · 2026-04-03

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Agrobacterium-mediated transformation remains challenging for economically important citrus crops because of low transformation and regeneration efficiencies. REGENERATION FACTOR1 (REF1), a plant elicitor peptide, is a local wound signal perceived by PROPEP RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASE 1 (PORK1) and transduced via WOUND-INDUCED DEDIFFERENTIATION 1 (WIND1). Exogenous REF1 peptide application has recently been reported to improve transformation and regeneration of herbaceous plants including tomato, which was explored on Agrobacterium-mediated citrus transformation in this study. We identified REF1, PORK1, and WIND1 orthologs in sweet orange (Citrus sinensis), which encodes two REF1 isoforms, CsREF1–1 and CsREF1–2. REF1 of tomato (SlREF1) and the two CsREF1 isoforms of different concentrations were tested for their effect on Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of citrus via exogenous application. CsREF1–1 at 10 or 100 nM and CsREF1–2 at 100 nM significantly increased GFP-positive transgenic callus formation, whereas SlREF1 had no significant effect. In addition, CsREF1–1, CsREF1–2, and SlREF1 reduced shoot regeneration. To overcome this trade-off, we exposed epicotyl explants to 100 nM CsREF1–2 only during the first month and then transferred them to REF1-free regeneration medium, yielding 4.1-fold more GFP-positive shoots than the untreated control. Such a staged application of CsREF1–2 also improved GFP-positive shoot recovery in Carrizo citrange by 3.3-fold. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) showed that CsREF1–2 induced CsWIND1 and CsESR1, which are critical for callus formation and shoot regeneration, but continuous CsREF1–2 exposure also suppressed shoot/meristem regulators, which was mitigated by removal of CsREF1–2 in the later stage. AlphaFold3 and PRODIGY predictions indicated the highest binding affinity for CsREF1–2 with CsPORK1, consistent with its superior activity. Overall, both CsREF1 peptides enhance citrus transformation but suppress regeneration, and staged exogenous application of CsREF1 peptides improves genetic improvement of recalcitrant perennial crops such as citrus, which decouples early dedifferentiation from later organogenesis, substantially expanding the toolbox for high-throughput functional genomics in citrus.

  PublisherDOI
• RETRACTED

  Retraction Note: Leptin promotes the migration and invasion of breast cancer cells by upregulating ACAT2

  Cellular Oncology · 2025-01-20

  article
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• When Schrödinger Bridge Meets Real-World Image Dehazing with Unpaired Training

  2025-10-19

  articleOpen access

  Recent advancements in unpaired dehazing, particularly those using GANs, show promising performance in processing real-world hazy images. However, these methods tend to face limitations due to the generator's limited transport mapping capability, which hinders the full exploitation of their effectiveness in unpaired training paradigms. To address these challenges, we propose DehazeSB, a novel unpaired dehazing framework based on the Schrödinger Bridge. By leveraging optimal transport (OT) theory, DehazeSB directly bridges the distributions between hazy and clear images. This enables optimal transport mappings from hazy to clear images in fewer steps, thereby generating high-quality results. To ensure the consistency of structural information and details in the restored images, we introduce detail-preserving regularization, which enforces pixel-level alignment between hazy inputs and dehazed outputs. Furthermore, we propose a novel prompt learning to leverage pre-trained CLIP models in distinguishing hazy images and clear ones, by learning a haze-aware vision-language alignment. Extensive experiments on multiple real-world datasets demonstrate our method's superiority. Code: https://github.com/ywxjm/DehazeSB.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The TALE effector PthA4 of <i>Xanthomonas citri</i> subsp. <i>citri</i> indirectly activates an expansin gene <i>CsEXP2</i> and an endoglucanase <i>CsEG1</i> via CsLOB1 to cause citrus canker symptoms

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-03-22

  preprintOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Citrus canker caused by Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) is an important citrus disease worldwide. PthA4 is the most important pathogenicity gene of Xcc and encodes a transcription activator like effector (TALE) secreted by the type III secretion system. PthA4 is known to activate the expression of CsLOB1 , the canker susceptibility gene and a transcription factor, to cause citrus canker symptoms. Extensive effort was made to identify downstream targets of CsLOB1 to investigate the mechanism underlying canker symptom development. However, none of identified CsLOB1 target genes have been confirmed to be involved in citrus canker development. Here, we first identified the direct targets of CsLOB1 by generating promoter- uidA (GUS) reporter fusion construct for the 13 genes highly induced by both PthA4 and CsLOB1 and monitored the reporter activity in N. benthamiana leaves co-expressing CsLOB1 . Agrobacterium tumefaciens -mediated transient expression of CsLOB1 activated seven gene promoters in N. benthamiana including Cs7g18460, Orange1.1t00600, Cs6g17190, Cs7g32410 ( CsEXP2 ), Cs2g27100, Cs2g20750 ( CsEG1 ), and Cs9g17380. Next, we constructed dTALEs to target unique sequences in the promoters of the seven direct target genes of CsLOB1 and transformed them into Xcc pthA4 ::Tn5 mutant. Our results indicate that a combination of 5 and 7 dTALEs caused canker-like symptoms in the inoculated citrus leaves. In addition, dTALECsEXP2 and dTALECsEG1 caused water soaking and pustules, which are typical canker symptoms. Taken together, Xcc indirectly activates CsEXP2 and CsEG1 via PthA4-CsLOB1 to cause canker symptoms. Author summary Ptha4 is responsible for the canker symptoms of Xcc and activate the expression of CsLOB1 of citrus to cause the canker symptoms. Extensive effort by multiple groups has been made to identify downstream targets of CsLOB1 to understand the mechanism underlying canker symptom development. However, none of the CsLOB1 targets have been shown to cause canker symptoms. Here we have demonstrated that Xcc indirectly activates CsEXP2, an expansin gene, and CsEG1, an endoglucanase, via PthA4-CsLOB1 to cause canker symptoms. Identification of direct targets of CsLOB1 provides alternative target genes for genetic improvement of citrus against canker via genome editing.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• [Expression of Concern] Leptin promotes breast cancer cell migration and invasion via IL‑18 expression and secretion

  International Journal of Oncology · 2025-11-04

  articleOpen access

  that was written by different authors at different research institutes. The authors were contacted by the Editorial Office to offer an explanation for these possible anomalies in the presentation of the data in this paper, although up to this time, no response from them has been forthcoming. Owing to the fact that the Editorial Office has been made aware of potential issues surrounding the scientific integrity of this paper, we are issuing an Expression of Concern to notify readers of this potential problem while the Editorial Office conitnues to investigate this matter further. [International Journal of Oncology 48: 2479‑2487, 2016; DOI: 10.3892/ijo.2016.3483].

  PublisherDOI

• Metal-Dependent Hydrolase 1 Encoded by “ <i>Candidatus</i> Liberibacter Asiaticus” Interferes with Citrus Immunity by Targeting Papain-like Cysteine Proteases

  Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry · 2025-10-16

  article

  Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB), caused by “Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus” (CLas), is a devastating citrus disease worldwide, and its pathogenesis remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the virulence function of a Sec-dependent effector, metal-dependent hydrolase 1 (MDH1), which is significantly upregulated in citrus during CLas infection compared to in psyllids. Overexpression of MDH1 in citrange reduced its resistance to Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri. RNA-seq and RT-qPCR analyses revealed that MDH1 reprogramed the transcription of genes involved in plant–pathogen interactions and suppressed the expression of defense-related genes. Crucially, MDH1 interacted with the Citrus sinensis aleurain-like protease (ALP), a papain-like cysteine protease (PLCP), specifically with the cysteine protease domain. MDH1 also interacted with other PLCP family members and significantly inhibited the expression of several PLCP family genes. This study uncovers how MDH1 suppresses plant immunity by interacting with citrus PLCPs, providing useful information for designing targeted inhibitors to combat HLB.

  PublisherDOI

• CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Disruption of <i>CsLIEXP1</i> Reveals Expansin as a Key Susceptibility Factor for Citrus Canker Disease

  Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions · 2025-01-01 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  The Citrus sinensis LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDERIES 1 ( CsLOB1) gene, which is directly induced by the Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri effector PthA4, functions as a transcription factor and citrus canker susceptibility (S) gene. Genome editing of CsLOB1 has been shown to confer resistance to citrus canker disease. Previous studies revealed that the citrus CsLOB1-INDUCED EXPANSIN 1 gene ( CsLIEXP1) is highly and directly upregulated by CsLOB1 in Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri-infected plants. Because expansins are associated with cell wall loosening, potentially facilitating bacterial colonization, the CsLOB1-dependent activation of CsLIEXP1 is thought to contribute to canker symptoms and disease progression. Thus, CsLIEXP1 likely represents a critical canker susceptibility gene. In this study, we employed CRISPR/Cas9 to disrupt the function of CsLIEXP1 by modifying its corresponding coding region in Citrus sinensis cultivar ‘Hamlin’ and evaluated the postinfection responses of edited plants. DNA sequencing confirmed the edition of the CsLIEXP1-edited plant, which exhibited 26.47% of CsLIEXP1 edited sequences. Furthermore, CsLIEXP1 protein accumulation was reduced in CsLIEXP1-edited plants compared with the wild type when infected with X. citri. Leaves of edited plants inoculated with X. citri showed significantly fewer canker symptoms, with lesions limited to the site of bacterial inoculation and less pronounced cellular hypertrophy compared with control plants. Our results show that CsLIEXP1 is a citrus canker S gene that acts downstream of CsLOB1, thus providing new insights into plant-pathogen interactions. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .

  PublisherDOI

• Genomic Analysis of Glycosyltransferases Responsible for Galactose-α-1,3-Galactose Epitopes in Streptococcus pneumoniae: Implications for Broadly Protective Vaccination Strategy

  Vaccines · 2025-11-10 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background: The origin of natural anti-galactose-α-1,3-galactose (anti-Gal) antibodies in humans is only partially understood. The gut microbiome has been proposed as an important source of galactose-α-1,3-galactose (αGal) epitopes that drive the maturation of anti-Gal–reactive B cells. Certain bacteria expressing αGal epitopes, notably Escherichia coli O86:B7, have been shown to elicit anti-Gal antibody responses in α1,3-galactosyltransferase knockout (α3GalT1 KO) mice. In this study, we investigated the interaction between currently widely used bacteria polysaccharide vaccine, the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23), which contains capsular polysaccharides (CPS) from multiple Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes, and host anti-Gal antibodies. Methods: We conducted a genomic analysis to identify α1,3-galactosyltransferase (α3GalT1) genes in S. pneumoniae strains. Binding of PPV23 to anti-Gal monoclonal antibodies was evaluated by ELISA, and αGal epitope content in PPV23 was estimated using a four-parameter logistic (4PL) model fitted to the ELISA calibration data. To assess in vivo immunogenicity, we immunized α3GalT1 KO mice with PPV23 and measured serum anti-Gal IgG and IgM titers before and after vaccination. Results: Genomic analysis revealed the presence of α3GalT1 genes in S. pneumoniae strains. PPV23 showed specific binding to anti-Gal monoclonal antibodies as detected by ELISA. Quantitative modeling indicated that αGal epitopes are present at low abundance within PPV23, consistent with limited expression of αGal among a minority of included serotypes. Immunization of α3GalT1 KO mice with PPV23 induced a significant rise in anti-Gal IgG titers (mean value from 124 to 384), whereas anti-Gal IgM titers remained relatively unchanged (mean value at the range of 6500–7500). High baseline anti-Gal IgM levels observed in α3GalT1 KO mice are consistent with age-dependent induction by the gut microbiota. Conclusions: These results provide genetic and immunological evidence that αGal epitopes derived from S. pneumoniae are present in PPV23 and can engage pre-existing anti-Gal antibodies. Our findings underscore a complex interplay among bacterial glycosyltransferase genes, vaccine polysaccharide composition, and host anti-Gal antibody repertoires, which may influence vaccine immunogenicity. Consideration of host natural antibody profiles may therefore be important for interpreting responses to carbohydrate-based vaccines and for guiding vaccine design.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jin Xu

  Google (United States)

  123 shared

• Jinyun Li

  Northwest Normal University

  113 shared

• Yunzeng Zhang

  Yangzhou University

  98 shared

• Hongge Jia

  Florida Department of Citrus

  83 shared

• Zhiqian Pang

  Florida Department of Citrus

  72 shared

• Doron Teper

  Agricultural Research Organization

  66 shared

• Pankaj Trivedi

  Colorado State University

  53 shared

• Sheo Shankar Pandey

  University of Florida

  49 shared

Labs

• Xin Wang LabPI

Awards & honors

• Elected Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors (NAI)…
• Appointed Mr. and Mrs. J. R. (Rip) Graves Eminent Scholar Ch…
• Elected Fellow American Phytopathological Society (APS) 2023
• Large Grant Leadership Award, University of Florida, 2025, 2…
• Elected Fellow American Association for the Advancement of S…