Qianwen SUN Ph.D.
Associate Professor
2022-present Associate Professor (Tenured), School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing China
2018-2021 Associate Professor (Tenure Track), School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing China
2014-2018 Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing China
2014-present Principal Investigator (renewed in 2018), Center for Life Sciences, Beijing China
2009-2014 Postdoctoral fellow, John Innes Centre, Norwich UK
2004-2009 Ph.D. Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
2000-2004 B.Sc. Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
Research interest
We are interested in different aspects of genome regulation, and mainly focus on R-loop biology. R-loop is the three-stranded chromatin structure, comprising with one strand DNA single-stranded and another strand RNA:DNA hybrid, plays various and essential biological functions in many organisms. We use Arabidopsis and other organisms (such as E coli and yeast) as model systems to investigate the fundamental questions in R-loop biology, such as regulatory mechanisms of R-loops formation, stabilization and resolution, and how R-loops are able to affect transcription and genome maintenance.
Selected publications
(* corresponding or co-corresponding authors; # co-first authors)
1. Weifeng Zhang, Lingling Cheng, Kuan Li, Leiming Xie, Jinyao Ji, Xue Lei, Anjie Jiang, Chunlai Chen, Haitao Li, Pilong Li and Qianwen Sun*. Evolutional heterochromatin condensation delineates chromocenter formation and retrotransposon silencing in plants. Nature Plants. 2024. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-024-01746-4.
2. Weifeng Zhang, Zhuo Yang, Wenjie Wang and Qianwen Sun*. Primase promotes the competition between transcription and replication on the same template strand resulting in DNA damage. Nature Communications. 2024; 15, 73. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44443-0.
3. Qin Li, Jincong Zhou, Shuai Li, Weifeng Zhang, Yingxue Du, Kuan Li, Yingxiang Wang and Qianwen Sun*. DNA polymerase ε harmonizes topological states and R-loops formation to maintain genome integrity in Arabidopsis. Nature Communications. 2023; 14, 7763. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43680-7.
4. Jincong Zhou, Xue Lei, Sarfraz Shafiq, Weifeng Zhang, Qin Li, Kuan Li, Jiafu Zhu, Zhicheng Dong, Xin-Jian He and Qianwen Sun*. DDM1-mediated R-loop resolution and H2A.Z exclusion facilitates heterochromatin formation in Arabidopsis. Science Advances. 2023 Aug;9(32):eadg2699. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adg2699.
5. Wei Xu#*, Chao Liu#, Zhe Zhang#, Changbin Sun, Qin Li, Kuan Li, Hui Jiang*, Wei Li* and Qianwen Sun*. DEtail-seq is an ultra-efficient and convenient method for meiotic DNA break profiling in multiple organisms. Sci China Life Sci, 2023 June; 66(6): 1392–1407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-022-2277-y.
6. Kuan Li#, Zhenzhen Wu#, Jincong Zhou#, Wei Xu, Ling Li, Chao Liu, Wei Li, Chengjun Zhang* and Qianwen Sun*. R-loopAtlas: An integrated R-loop resource from 254 plant species sustained by a deep-learning-based tool. Molecular Plant. 2023 Mar;16(3):493-496. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2022.12.012.
7. Liu K and Sun Q*. Intragenic tRNA-promoted R-loops orchestrate transcription interference for plant oxidative stress responses. The Plant Cell, 2021, 33: 3574–3591.
8. Cheng L#, Wang W#, Yao Y#, Sun Q*. Mitochondrial RNase H1 activity regulates R-loop homeostasis to maintain genome integrity and enable early embryogenesis in Arabidopsis. PLOS Biology, 2021, 19(8): e3001357.
9. Wang W, Li K, Yang Z, Hou Q, Zhao W W, Sun Q*. RNase H1C collaborates with ssDNA binding proteins WHY1/3 and recombinase RecA1 to fulfill the DNA damage repair in Arabidopsis chloroplasts. Nucleic Acids Research, 2021 Jul; 49(12): 6771–6787.
10. Yang Z, Li M, Sun Q*. RHON1 Co-transcriptionally Resolves R-Loops for Arabidopsis Chloroplast Genome Maintenance. Cell Reports. 2020 Jan; 30(1), 243–256.
11. Xu W#, Li K#, Li S#, Hou Q#, Zhang Y, Liu K and Sun Q*. The R-loop atlas of Arabidopsis development and responses to environmental stimuli. The Plant Cell, 2020 Apr; 32(4):888-903.
12. Zhao S#, Cheng L#, Gao Y#, Zhang B#, Zheng X, Wang L, Li P*, Sun Q*, Li H*. Plant HP1 protein ADCP1 links multivalent H3K9 methylation readout to heterochromatin formation. Cell Research, 2019 Jan; 29(1):54-66.
13. Yang Z#, Hou Q#, Cheng L#, Xu W, Hong Y, Li S, Sun Q*. RNase H1 Cooperates with DNA Gyrases to Restrict R-Loops and Maintain Genome Integrity in Arabidopsis Chloroplasts. The Plant Cell, 2017 Oct; 29(10):2478-2497.
14. Xu W, Xu H, Li K, Fan Y, Liu Y, Yang X*, Sun Q*. The R-loop is a common chromatin feature of the Arabidopsis genome. Nature Plants, 2017 Sep; 3(9):704-714.
15. Sun Q, Csorba T, Skourti-Stathaki K, Proudfoot NJ, Dean C*. R-loop stabilization represses antisense transcription at the Arabidopsis FLC locus. Science, 2013 May; 340(6132):619-21.
Contact information
Location：Biotechnology Building Room 4-313 (Office), 4-309 (Lab)
Tel: +86-10-62784002 (Office); 62796360 (Lab)
E-mail: sunqianwen(a t)mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
