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		Search Text: Home/< Back ToThe Science/Molecular Genetics
  Molecular Genetics
    The Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, led by Dr. Hong Xu, is pioneering mitochondrial genetics and inheritance research in the fruit fly model (Drosophila melanogaster).
    On This Page
    
          Hong Xu, Ph.D.
  Hong Xu, Ph.D.
          Senior Investigator
          Email
                                      Profile
      Meet the Team
            Contact us
  Senior Investigator Research Interests
            
  Research Interests
              Mendelian principles have been the cornerstone for identifying nuclear genes in biological and diseases processes and ordering these genes into functional cascades. However, the limitation of Mendelian genetics to explain many complex traits has redirected attention beyond the nucleus. In addition to the nuclear genome, each eukaryotic cell contains hundreds to thousands of copies of mitochondrial genome, the small circular DNAs inside mitochondria. Mutations on mitochondrial genome often impair cellular energy homeostasis and have been linked to many diseases including various age-related disorders. Despite the immense impact of mtDNA mutations on health and disease, our understanding of mitochondrial genetics remains rudimentary. Genetic analyses on mitochondrial genome are complicated by the peculiarities of the mitochondrial genetic system that features maternal inheritance, polyploidy, and amitotic segregation.We are working with fruit flies and other model organisms to understand the basic principles guiding the transmission of mitochondrial genome. We are trying to understand why evolution favors the transmission of mitochondrial genome from the maternal linage exclusively, how mothers limit the transmission of harmful mtDNA variants to their offsring, how organisms prevent the accumulation of mtDNA mutations in somatic tissues and with aging. We are also exploring the coordination and potential genetic conflicts between nuclear and mitochondrial genome, and their impact on health and diseases. Additionally, we are actively developing new tools to advance the genetic study of mtDNA.
  Featured Publications
                The PPR domain of mitochondrial RNA polymerase is an exoribonuclease required for mtDNA replication in Drosophila melanogaster
            Authors:Liu Y, Chen Z, Wang ZH, Delaney KM, Tang J, Pirooznia M, Lee DY, Tunc I, Li Y, Xu H.
                                                                                                                        
            Nat Cell Biol.
      
                2022 May 01;24(5):757-765
        Read Publication
                      Mitochondrial DNA Segregation and Replication Restrict the Transmission of Detrimental Mutation
            Authors:Chen Z, Wang ZH, Zhang G, Bleck CKE, Chung DJ, Madison GP, Lindberg E, Combs C, Balaban RS, Xu H.
                                                                                                                        
            J Cell Biol. 
      
                2020 Jul 06;219(7):e201905160
        Read Publication
                      PINK1 Inhibits Local Protein Synthesis to Limit Transmission of Deleterious Mitochondrial DNA Mutations.
            Authors:Zhang Y, Wang ZH, Liu Y, Chen Y, Sun N, Gucek M, Zhang F, Xu H
                                                                                                                        
            Mol Cell
      
                2019 Mar 21;73(6):1127-1137
        Read Publication
                      The mitochondrial outer membrane protein MDI promotes local protein synthesis and mtDNA replication.
            Authors:Zhang Y, Chen Y, Gucek M, Xu H
                                    
            EMBO J
      
                2016 Apr 06
        Read Publication
                      Selective propagation of functional mitochondrial DNA during oogenesis restricts the transmission of a deleterious mitochondrial variant.
            Authors:Hill JH, Chen Z, Xu H
                                                                                                                        
            Nature genetics
      
                2014 Apr 01;46(4):389-92
        Read Publication
  Meet the Team

    Hong Xu, Ph.D.

            Hong Xu, Ph.D.
                Senior Investigator
                Hong Xu graduated from Nankai University with a B.S. in 1995 and received a M.S. from Peking University in 1998. He earned his Ph.D. in 2004 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he worked with Craig Montell. Dr. Xu did his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco with Patrick O’Farrell, during which time he received the Larry L. Hillblom Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Xu joined NIH a tenure-track Investigator in 2010 and was promoted to senior investigator in 2017.NHLBI Orloff Award 2015: Hong Xu

                                View  Xu's Profile
    
          Contact the lab
    10 Center DrBethesda, MD 20814United States
        Phone:
                    301-594-5940
                Fax:
  Zhe Chen
    
            Zhe Chen, Ph.D.
        

    Staff Scientist

        zhe.chen@nih.gov
            Fan Zhang
    
            Fan Zhang, Ph.D.
        

    Staff Scientist

        zhangfan2@mail.nih.gov
            Zong-Heng Wang
    
            Zong-Heng Wang, Ph.D.
        

    Postdoctoral Fellow

        zong-heng.wang@nih.gov
            Min Lie
    
            Min Li
        

    Postdoctoral Fellow

        min.li@nih.gov
            Snigdha Gupta
    
            Snigdha Gupta
        

    Postdoctoral Fellow

        snigdha.gupta@nih.gov
            Cheng Zhang
    
            Cheng Zhang
        

    Postdoctoral Fellow

        cheng.zhang@nih.gov
            Michela Yamine
        

    Post-baccalaureate student
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