Research Focus
Plant evolutionary ecology
I study the processes of plant adaptation. I aim to address fundamental questions in plant evolutionary ecology using an integrative approach that includes techniques and theories from comparative genomics, quantitative genetics, molecular biology, chemical ecology and experimental evolution.
CV
Academic Education
- Ph.D. ETH Zurich
- Master
- Bachelor, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
WorkExperience
Publications
Selection
- Xu, S, Brockmoller, T, Navarro-Quezada, A, Kuhl, H, Gase, K, Ling, Z, Zhou, W, Kreitzer, C, Stanke, M, Tang, H, Lyons, E, Pandey, P, Pandey, SP, Timmermann, B, Gaquerel, E, and Baldwin, IT. . “Wild tobacco genomes reveal the evolution of nicotine biosynthesis.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, № 114 (23): 6133–6138. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1700073114.
- Zhou, W, Kugler, A, McGale, E, Haverkamp, A, Knaden, M, Guo, H, Beran, F, Yon, F, Li, R, Lackus, N, Kollner, TG, Bing, J, Schuman, MC, Hansson, BS, Kessler, D, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Tissue-specific emission of (E)-alpha-bergamotene helps resolve the dilemma when pollinators are also herbivores.” Current biology, № 27 (9): 1336–1341. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.03.017.
- Brockmoller, T, Ling, Z, Li, D, Gaquerel, E, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Nicotiana attenuata Data Hub (NaDH): an integrative platform for exploring genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic data in wild tobacco.” BMC Genomics, № 18 (1): 79. doi: 10.1186/s12864-016-3465-9.
- Byers, KJ, Xu, S, and Schluter, PM. . “Molecular mechanisms of adaptation and speciation: why do we need an integrative approach?” Molecular Ecology, № 26 (1): 277–290. doi: 10.1111/mec.13678.
- Durrant, M, Boyer, J, Zhou, W, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Evidence of an evolutionary hourglass pattern in herbivory-induced transcriptomic responses.” New Phytologist, № 215 (3): 1264–1273. doi: 10.1111/nph.14644.
- Zhou, W, Brockmoller, T, Ling, Z, Omdahl, A, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Evolution of herbivore-induced early defense signaling was shaped by genome-wide duplications in Nicotiana.” eLife, № 5 doi: 10.7554/eLife.19531.
- Ling, Z, Zhou, W, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Insect herbivory elicits genome-wide alternative splicing responses in Nicotiana attenuata.” The Plant journal, № 84 (1): 228–243. doi: 10.1111/tpj.12997.
- Xu, S, Schluter, PM, Grossniklaus, U, and Schiestl, FP. . “The genetic basis of pollinator adaptation in a sexually deceptive orchid.” PLoS Genetics, № 8 (8): e1002889. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002889.
- Schluter, PM, Xu, S, Gagliardini, V, Whittle, E, Shanklin, J, Grossniklaus, U, and Schiestl, FP. . “Stearoyl-acyl carrier protein desaturases are associated with floral isolation in sexually deceptive orchids.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, № 108 (14): 5696–701. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1013313108.
- Xu, S, Schluter, PM, Scopece, G, Breitkopf, H, Gross, K, Cozzolino, S, and Schiestl, FP. . “Floral isolation is the main reproductive barrier among closely related sexually deceptive orchids.” Evolution, № 65 (9): 2606–2620. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01323.x.
Complete List
- Acosta, K, Appenroth, KJ, Borisjuk, L, Edelman, M, Heinig, U, Jansen, MAK, Oyama, T, Pasaribu, B, Schubert, I, Sorrels, S, Sree, KS, Xu, S, Michael, TP, and Lam, E. . “Return of the Lemnaceae: duckweed as a model plant system in the genomics and postgenomics era.” The Plant cell, № koab189 doi: 10.1093/plcell/koab189.
- Ke, L, Wang, Y, Schäfer, M, Städler, T, Zeng, R, Fabian, J, Pulido, H, De Moraes, CM, Song, Y, and Xu, S. . “Transcriptomic profiling reveals shared signalling networks between flower development and herbivory-induced responses in tomato.” Frontiers in Plant Science, № 12: 722810. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.722810.
- Li, J, Halitschke, R, Li, D, Paetz, C, Su, H, Heiling, S, Xu, S, and Baldwin, IT. . “Controlled hydroxylations of diterpenoids allow for plant chemical defense without autotoxicity.” Science, № 371 (6526): 255–260.
- Zeng, X, Xu, T, Ling, Z, Wang, Y, Li, X, Xu, S, Xu, Q, Zha, S, Qimei, W, Basang, Y, Dunzhu, J, Yu, M, Yuan, H, and Nyima, T. . “An improved high-quality genome assembly and annotation of Tibetan hulless barley.” Scientific data, № 7 (1): 139. doi: 10.1038/s41597-020-0480-0.
- Bog, M, Xu, S, Himmelbach, A, Brandt, R, Wagner, F, Appenroth, K, and Sree, KS. . “Genotyping-by-Sequencing for Species Delimitation in Lemna Section Uninerves Hegelm. (Lemnaceae).” in The Duckweed Genomes, edited by XH Cao, P Fourounjian and W Wang. Cham. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-11045-1_11.
- Xu, S, Kreitzer, C, McGale, E, Lackus, ND, Guo, H, Köllner, TG, Schuman, MC, Baldwin, IT, and Zhou, W. . “Allelic differences of clustered terpene synthases contribute to correlated intra-specific variation of floral and herbivory-induced volatiles in a wild tobacco.” New Phytologist, № na (na) doi: 10.1111/nph.16739.
- Guo, H, Lackus, ND, Köllner, TG, Li, R, Bing, J, Wang, Y, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Evolution of a novel and adaptive floral scent in wild tobacco.” Molecular Biology and Evolution, № 2019 doi: 10.1093/molbev/msz292.
- Ling, Z, Brockmöller, T, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Evolution of Alternative Splicing in Eudicots.” Frontiers in Plant Science, № 10: 707. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00707.
- Liu, Y, Wang, Y, Xu, S, Tang, X, Zhao, J, Yu, C, Zhou, G, He, G, Xu, H, Wang, S, Tang, Y, Fu, C, and Ma, Y. . “Efficient genetic transformation and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing in Lemna aequinoctialis.” Plant Biotechnology Journal(ja) doi: 10.1111/pbi.13128.
- Xu, S, Stapley, J, Gablenz, S, Boyer, J, Appenroth, KJ, Sree, KS, Gershenzon, J, Widmer, A, and Huber, M. . “Low genetic variation is associated with low mutation rate in the giant duckweed.” Nature Communications, № 10 (1): 1243. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09235-5.
- Xu, S, Brockmoller, T, Navarro-Quezada, A, Kuhl, H, Gase, K, Ling, Z, Zhou, W, Kreitzer, C, Stanke, M, Tang, H, Lyons, E, Pandey, P, Pandey, SP, Timmermann, B, Gaquerel, E, and Baldwin, IT. . “Wild tobacco genomes reveal the evolution of nicotine biosynthesis.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, № 114 (23): 6133–6138. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1700073114.
- Zhou, W, Kugler, A, McGale, E, Haverkamp, A, Knaden, M, Guo, H, Beran, F, Yon, F, Li, R, Lackus, N, Kollner, TG, Bing, J, Schuman, MC, Hansson, BS, Kessler, D, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Tissue-specific emission of (E)-alpha-bergamotene helps resolve the dilemma when pollinators are also herbivores.” Current biology, № 27 (9): 1336–1341. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.03.017.
- Machado, RAR, Zhou, W, Ferrieri, AP, Arce, CCM, Baldwin, IT, Xu, S, and Erb, M. . “Species-specific regulation of herbivory-induced defoliation tolerance is associated with jasmonate inducibility.” Ecology and Evolution, № 7 (11): 3703–3712. doi: 10.1002/ece3.2953.
- Luu, VT, Weinhold, A, Ullah, C, Dressel, S, Schoettner, M, Gase, K, Gaquerel, E, Xu, S, and Baldwin, IT. . “O-Acyl sugars protect a wild tobacco from both native fungal pathogens and a specialist herbivore.” Plant Physiology, № 174 (1): 370–386. doi: 10.1104/pp.16.01904.
- Brockmoller, T, Ling, Z, Li, D, Gaquerel, E, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Nicotiana attenuata Data Hub (NaDH): an integrative platform for exploring genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic data in wild tobacco.” BMC Genomics, № 18 (1): 79. doi: 10.1186/s12864-016-3465-9.
- Schäfer, M, Brütting, C, Xu, S, Ling, Z, Steppuhn, A, Baldwin, IT, and Schuman, MC. . “NaMYB8 regulates distinct, optimally distributed herbivore defense traits.” Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, № 59 (12): 844–850. doi: 10.1111/jipb.12593.
- Byers, KJ, Xu, S, and Schluter, PM. . “Molecular mechanisms of adaptation and speciation: why do we need an integrative approach?” Molecular Ecology, № 26 (1): 277–290. doi: 10.1111/mec.13678.
- Rogers, SM, Xu, S, and Schluter, PM. . “Introduction: integrative molecular ecology is rapidly advancing the study of adaptation and speciation.” Molecular Ecology, № 26 (1): 1–6. doi: 10.1111/mec.13947.
- Durrant, M, Boyer, J, Zhou, W, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Evidence of an evolutionary hourglass pattern in herbivory-induced transcriptomic responses.” New Phytologist, № 215 (3): 1264–1273. doi: 10.1111/nph.14644.
- Wang, M, Schoettner, M, Xu, S, Paetz, C, Wilde, J, Baldwin, IT, and Groten, K. . “Catechol, a major component of smoke, influences primary root growth and root hair elongation through reactive oxygen species-mediated redox signaling.” New Phytologist, № 213 (4): 1755–1770. doi: 10.1111/nph.14317.
- Zhou, W, Brockmoller, T, Ling, Z, Omdahl, A, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Evolution of herbivore-induced early defense signaling was shaped by genome-wide duplications in Nicotiana.” eLife, № 5 doi: 10.7554/eLife.19531.
- Machado, RA, Robert, CA, Arce, CC, Ferrieri, AP, Xu, S, Jimenez-Aleman, GH, Baldwin, IT, and Erb, M. . “Auxin is rapidly induced by herbivore attack and regulates a subset of systemic, jasmonate-dependent defenses.” Plant Physiology, № 172 (1): 521–532. doi: 10.1104/pp.16.00940.
- Groten, K, Pahari, NT, Xu, S, Miloradovi, vDM, and Baldwin, IT. . “Virus-induced gene silencing using tobacco rattle virus as a tool to study the interaction between Nicotiana attenuata and Rhizophagus irregularis.” PloS one, № 10 (8): e0136234. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136234.
- Xu, S, Zhou, W, and Baldwin, IT. . “The rapidly evolving associations among herbivore associated elicitor-induced phytohormones in Nicotiana.” Plant Signal and Behaviour, № 10 (7): e1035850. doi: 10.1080/15592324.2015.1035850.
- Xu, S, and Schluter, PM. . “Modeling the two-locus architecture of divergent pollinator adaptation: how variation in SAD paralogs affects fitness and evolutionary divergence in sexually deceptive orchids.” Ecology and Evolution, № 5 (2): 493–502. doi: 10.1002/ece3.1378.
- Ling, Z, Zhou, W, Baldwin, IT, and Xu, S. . “Insect herbivory elicits genome-wide alternative splicing responses in Nicotiana attenuata.” The Plant journal, № 84 (1): 228–243. doi: 10.1111/tpj.12997.
- Xu, S, Zhou, W, Pottinger, S, and Baldwin, IT. . “Herbivore associated elicitor-induced defences are highly specific among closely related Nicotiana species.” BMC Plant Biology, № 15: 2. doi: 10.1186/s12870-014-0406-0.
- Sedeek, KE, Qi, W, Schauer, MA, Gupta, AK, Poveda, L, Xu, S, Liu, ZJ, Grossniklaus, U, Schiestl, FP, and Schluter, PM. . “Transcriptome and proteome data reveal candidate genes for pollinator attraction in sexually deceptive orchids.” PloS one, № 8 (5): e64621. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064621.
- Breitkopf, H, Schluter, PM, Xu, S, Schiestl, FP, Cozzolino, S, and Scopece, G. . “Pollinator shifts between Ophrys sphegodes populations: might adaptation to different pollinators drive population divergence?” Journal of Evolutionary Biology, № 26 (10): 2197–208. doi: 10.1111/jeb.12216.
- Xu, S, Schluter, PM, Grossniklaus, U, and Schiestl, FP. . “The genetic basis of pollinator adaptation in a sexually deceptive orchid.” PLoS Genetics, № 8 (8): e1002889. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002889.
- Xu, S, Schlüter, PM, and Schiestl, FP. . “Pollinator-driven speciation in sexually deceptive orchids.” International Journal of Ecology, № 2012 doi: 10.1155/2012/285081.
- Schluter, PM, Xu, S, Gagliardini, V, Whittle, E, Shanklin, J, Grossniklaus, U, and Schiestl, FP. . “Stearoyl-acyl carrier protein desaturases are associated with floral isolation in sexually deceptive orchids.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, № 108 (14): 5696–701. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1013313108.
- Xu, S, Schluter, PM, Scopece, G, Breitkopf, H, Gross, K, Cozzolino, S, and Schiestl, FP. . “Floral isolation is the main reproductive barrier among closely related sexually deceptive orchids.” Evolution, № 65 (9): 2606–2620. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01323.x.
- Xu, S, Clark, T, Zheng, H, Vang, S, Li, R, Wong, GK, Wang, J, and Zheng, X. . “Gene conversion in the rice genome.” BMC Genomics, № 9: 93. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-9-93.
- Xu, S, Luosang, J, Hua, S, He, J, Ciren, A, Wang, W, Tong, X, Liang, Y, Wang, J, and Zheng, X. . “High altitude adaptation and phylogenetic analysis of Tibetan horse based on the mitochondrial genome.” Journal of Genetics and Genomics, № 34 (8): 720–729. doi: 10.1016/S1673-8527(07)60081-2.
- Wang, W, Wang, C, Xu, S, Chen, C, Tong, X, Liang, Y, Dong, X, Lei, Y, Zheng, X, Yu, J, and Wang, J. . “Detection of HPV-2 and identification of novel mutations by whole genome sequencing from biopsies of two patients with multiple cutaneous horns.” Journal of Clinic Virology, № 39 (1): 34–42. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2007.01.002.
- Tong, XM, Liang, Y, Wang, W, Xu, SQ, Zheng, XG, Wang, J, and Yu, J. . “Complete sequence and gene organization of the Tibetan chicken mitochondrial genome.” Yi Chuan, № 28 (7): 769–777.
- Xu, SQ, Yang, YZ, Zhou, J, Jing, GE, Chen, YT, Wang, J, Yang, HM, Wang, J, Yu, J, Zheng, XG, and Ge, RL. . “A mitochondrial genome sequence of the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii).” Genomics Proteomics and Bioinformatics, № 3 (1): 5–17.