Name：ZHANG Tao

Department：China Pharmaceutical Culture Collection

Tel: (8610)63017304

Email: tzhang@imb.cams.cn

Education & Research

2019/09 – Now Associate Professor, Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

2017/10-2019/09 Assistant Professor, Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

2015/04-2017/09 Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Science

2012/12-2014/12 Postdoctoral Researcher, Wadsworth Center, NYS Department of Health, USA

2006/09-2012/07 Ph.D. in Biochemistry and molecular biology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Research Field：

Biosynthesis and metabolic engineering of natural products in filamentous fungi

Research Interests：

Dr. Zhang has been engaged in biosynthesis and metabolic engineering of natural products from filamentous fungi. In the natural product biosynthesis area, he is interested in elucidating biosynthetic pathways of polyketides, meroterpenoids and related compounds. Our goal is to understand the biochemical and structural basis of different enzymes encoded in these pathways. By accumulating multi-discipline knowledge including molecular genetics, structural biology, biochemistry and natural product chemistry, we aim towards the elucidation of biosynthetic pathways and the mechanism of the novel enzymes. In particular, we are studying the biosynthesis of aromatic polyketides from iteratively biosynthesized compounds in fungi. In the metabolic engineering area, we build upon our knowledge from the fundamental studies and aim to discover/engineer pathway transcription factor or epigenetic modification coding genes in filamentous fungi isolated from special habitats , which can be used in activating silent/down-regulated secondary metabolites gene clusters and mining for novel pharmaceutical compounds.

Selected Publications

1. Ren P, Rajkumar SS, Zhang T, Sui H, Masters PS, Martinkova N, Kubátová A, Pikula J, Chaturvedi S, Chaturvedi V. A common partitivirus infection in United States and Czech Republic isolates of bat white-nose syndrome fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans.Sci Rep. 2020, 10(1):13893.

2. Zhang T, Ren P, De Jesus M, Chaturvedi V, Chaturvedi S. Green Fluorescent Protein Expression in Pseudogymnoascus destructans to Study Its Abiotic and Biotic Lifestyles. Mycopathologia, 2018,183(5):805-814.

3. Gao SS#, Zhang T#, Garcia-Borràs M, Hung YS, Billingsley JM, Houk KN, Hu Y, Tang Y. Biosynthesis of heptacyclic duclauxins requires extensive redox modifications of the phenalenone aromatic polyketide. J Am Chem Soc, 2018,140(22):6991-6997.（#co-fisrt author）

4. Zhang T#, Wan J#, Zhan Z, Bai J, Liu B, Hu Y. Activation of an unconventional meroterpenoid gene cluster in Neosartorya glabra leads to the production of new berkeleyacetals. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, 2018,8(3):478-487.（#co-fisrt author）

5.Zhang F, Liu H, Zhang T, Pijning T, Yu L, Zhang W, Liu W, Meng X.Biochemical and genetic characterization of fungal proline hydroxylase in echinocandin biosynthesis. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2018,102(18):7877-7890.

6.Bai J#, Yan D#, Zhang T, Guo Y, Liu Y, Zou Y, Tang M, Liu B, Wu Q, Yu S, Tang Y, Hu Y. A Cascade of Redox Reactions Generates Complexity in the Biosynthesis of the Protein Phosphatase-2 Inhibitor Rubratoxin A. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017, 56(17):4782-4786.  

7. Zhang T, Ren P, Chaturvedi V, Chaturvedi S. Novel Trichoderma polysporum strain for the biocontrol of Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungal etiologic agent of bat White Nose Syndrome. PLoS One, 2015,10(10):e0141316.

8. Zhang T, Ren P, Chaturvedi V, Chaturvedi S. Development of an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system for the cold-adapted fungi Pseudogymnoascus destructans and P. pannorum. Fungal Genet Biol, 2015,81:73-81.

9. Zhang T^#, Victor TR^#, Rajkumar SS, Li X, Okoniewski JC, Hicks AC, Davis AD, Broussard K, LaDeau SL, Chaturvedi S, Chaturvedi V.Mycobiome of the bat white nose syndrome affected caves and mines reveals diversity of fungi and local adaptation by the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus (Geomyces) destructans.PLoS One. 2014, 9(9):e108714.（^#co-fisrt author）

10. Zhuo Y^#, Zhang T^#, Wang Q, Cruz-Morales P, Zhang B, Liu M, Barona-Gómez F, Zhang L.Synthetic biology of avermectin for production improvement and structure diversification. Biotechnol J. 2014, 9(3):316-25.（^#co-fisrt author）

11. Zhang T^#, Zhuo Y^#, Jia X, Liu J, Gao H, Song F, Liu M, Zhang L.Cloning and characterization of the gene cluster required for beauvericin biosynthesis in Fusarium proliferatum. Sci China Life Sci. 2013, 56(7):628-37.（^#co-fisrt author）

12. Zhang T, Jia X, Zhuo Y, Liu M, Gao H, Liu J, Zhang L. Cloning and characterization of a novel 2-ketoisovalerate reductase from the beauvericin producer Fusarium proliferatum LF061. BMC Biotechnol. 2012, 12:55.