Prof. Qinlong Zhu  

College of Life Sciences,
South China Agricultural University,
Guangzhou, Guangdong 510642, China
Tel: +86-20-85288395 (O)
E-mail: zhuql@scau.edu.cn

Education

• Ph.D. (Horticulture)

Southwest University, Chongqing, China, 2007

• M.S. (Cell Biology)

Southwest Agricultural University (Currently known as a part of Southwest University, 2005-current), Chongqing, China, 2004

• B.S. (Animal Science)

Sichuan Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine (Currently known as a part of Southwest University, 2001-current), Chongqing, China, 2001

Professional Biography

Dr. Zhu finished his postdoctoral training at South China Agricultural University (SCAU) from 2007 to 2010, and now as a professor (youth) in the College of Life Sciences, SCAU, from 2019. He was also a visiting associate professor in the Section of Plant Breeding Genetics and Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health at Cornell University, US, from 2017-2018. Dr. Zhu’s research focuses mainly on development of plant genetic engineering tools, including TransGene Stacking System and CRISPR/Cas9 genome and base editing system, for metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, as well as phytonutrient biosynthesis and biofortification of crops.

Area of Expertise

Synthetic biology; Plant metabolic engineering; TransGene stacking; Multigene assembly; CRISPR/Cas9; Genome editing; Base editing; phytonutrient biosynthesis; Biofortification of crops

Selected Publications

1. Han J, Ma K, LiH, Su J, Zhou L, Tang J, Zhang S, Hou Y, Chen L, Liu Y-G, Zhu Q*. (2022)All-in-one: A Robust Fluorescent Fusion Protein Vector Toolbox for ProteinLocalization and BiFC Analyses in Plants. Plant Biotechnol J doi:10.1111/pbi.13790.

2. Tan J, Wang Y, Chen S, Lin Z, Zhao Y, Xue Y,Luo Y, Liu Y.-G, Zhu Q*. (2022) An Efficient Marker Gene Excision StrategyBased on CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Homology-Directed Repair in Rice. Int J Mol Sci23(3): 1588.

3.Tan J, Zeng D, Zhao Y, Wang Y, Liu T, Li S,Xue Y, Luo Y, Xie X, Chen L, Liu YG, Zhu Q*. (2022) PhieABEs: a PAM-less/freehigh-efficiency adenine base editor toolbox with wide target scope in plants.Plant Biotechnol J doi: 10.1111/pbi.13774.

4.Liu T, Zeng D, Zheng Z, Lin Z, Xue Y, Li T,Xie X, Ma G, Liu Y-G*, Zhu Q*. (2021) The ScCas9++ variant expands the CRISPRtoolbox for genome editing in plants. J Integr Plant Biol 63 (9): 1611-1619.

5.Zeng D, Li X, Huang J, Li Y, Cai S, Yu W, Li Y, Huang Y, Xie X, Gong Q, Tan J, Zheng Z, Guo M, Liu Y-G*, Zhu Q*. (2020) Engineered Cas9 variant tools expand targeting scope of genome and base editing in rice. Plant Biotechnol J 18: 1348-1350.

6. Tan J, Zhao Y, Wang B,  Hao Y, Wang Y, Li Y, Luo W, Zong W, Li G, Chen S, Ma K, Xie X, Chen L, Liu Y‐G*, Zhu Q*.(2020) Efficient CRISPR/Cas9-based plant genomic fragment deletions by microhomology-mediated end joining. Plant Biotechnol J doi: 10.1111/pbi.13390.

7. Wang B, Fang R, Chen F, Han J, Liu Y-G, Chen L* and Zhu Q*. (2020) A novel CCCH‐type zinc‐finger protein SAW1 activates OsGA20ox3 to regulate gibberellin homeostasis and anther development in rice.  J Integr Plant Biol doi: 10.1111/jipb.12924.

8. Zhu Q, Wang B, Tan J, Liu T, Li L, Liu Y-G*.(2020) Plant Synthetic Metabolic Engineering for Enhancing Crop Nutritional Quality. Plant Commun 1: 100017.

9. Tan J, Gong Q, Yu S, Hou Y, Zeng D, Zhu Q*, Liu Y-G*. (2019)A modified high-efficiency thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR method for amplifying long unknown flanking sequences.  J Genet Genomics 46: 363-366.

10. Ma K, Han J, Hao Y, Yang Z, Chen J, Liu Y-G, Zhu Q*, Chen L*. (2019) An effective strategy to establish a male sterility mutant mini-library by CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of anther-specific genes in rice.  J Genet Genomics 46: 273-275.

11. Zhu Q, Zeng D, Yu S, Cui C, Li J, Li H, Chen J, Zhang R, Zhao X, Chen L, and Liu Y.-G*. (2018) From Golden Rice to aSTARice: Bioengineering Astaxanthin Biosynthesis in Rice Endosperm. Mol Plant 11: 1440-1448. (Cover story)

12. Zhu Q, Yu S, Zeng D, Liu H, Wang H, Yang Z, Xie X, Shen R, Tan J, Li H, Zhao X, Zhang Q, Chen Y, Guo J, Chen L, Liu Y-G*. (2017) Development of “Purple Endosperm Rice” by engineering anthocyanin biosynthesis in the endosperm with a high-efficiency transgene stacking system. Mol Plant 10: 918-929. (Cover story)

13. Zhu Q*, Yang Z, Zhang Q, Chen L, Liu Y-G*. (2014) Robust multi-type plasmid modification based on isothermal in vitro recombination. Gene 548: 39-42.

14.Zhu Q, Li M*, Liu G, Li Y, Sui S, Guo T. (2007) Molecular characterization and functional prediction of a novel leaf SAG encoding a CBS-domain-containing protein from Coleus blumei. Chin J Biochem and Mol Bio 23: 249-255. (Cover story)