CURRICULUM VITAE

Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Science, Harbin, 150081, China　　

Tel: 86　  (451) 875017083, Fax: 86(451)86603736, Email: xiazhj@neigaehrb.ac.cn

EDUCATION 

1979-1983　  B.Sc.　Yangzhou University 

1983-1986　　　　　　 M.Sc.  China (Beijing) Agricultural University

1997-2000　　　　　　 Ph.D.  in Microbiology, Natal University, South Africa

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 

1986-1997　　  Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Science, China, associate professor

2001-2006　　  Chiba University, Japan, senior researcher

2007- 2010,  National Institute of Agrobiological Science, Japan, senior researcher,

2010 to present, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Science  Harbin, professor

AWARDS AND HONORS

2010　　 Scholarshipfrom K.C.Wong Education Foundation

Major Research Achievement　

1.　　  Successful deciphering of molecular identity the E1 gene through positional cloning strategy with a very large population. This gene largely responsible for the photoperiodic response and flowering time in soybean is located in the pericentromeric region in LGC2 (CH 06). There are no apparent orthologues in the model plants e.g. Arabidopsis and rice. The successful molecular identification of the E1 locus will present a significant step forward in revealing genetic basis regulating photoperiodic flowering in soybean, and thus be of great importance to plant developmental biology.

2.　　  Successful isolation of other very important soybean flowering time or growth habit related genes, i.e. E2, E3, FT, DT1.

3.　　  Successful construction of a high density soybean linkage map

4.　　  Successful construction of soybean BAC library and  development of a novel pooling protocol for screening

5.　　  Biological control of Verticillium wilt via endophytic Bacteria.

6.　　  Molecular detection of Stenocarpella maydis in maize 

Future 　research interest

1)　　  Elucidation of the gene networks controlling soybean photoperiodic response

2)　　  Identification of key genes conferring agronomical traits to improve soybean productivity

3)　　  Molecular design and breeding of high productive soybean varieties 

PUBLICATIONS

l　　　　 XIA Z, WATANABE, S, et al. Molecular identity for soybean maturity locus E1 revealed as a novel flowering repressor that acutely regulates flowering time gene network PNAS (submitted).

l　　　　 Zhengjun Xia, Satoshi Watanabe, Baohui Liu, Fanjiang Kong, Yasutaka Tsubokura, Xiaohui Yuan, Elroy R Cober, Jun Abe, Kyuya Harada. Cloning and characterization of genes related to flowering time and maturity in soybean. Mol. Breeding (Submitted)

1)　　  Tsubokura Y.; Hajika M. Xia Z, Watanabe S Harada K (2011) Molecular characterization of the β-conglycinin deficient soybean. Plant Mol. Bio. (in press).

2)　　  WATANABE S, XIA Z, ,et al. 2011. A Map-Based Cloning Strategy employing a Residual Heterozygous Line Reveals that the GIGANTEA Gene Is Involved in Soybean Maturity and Flowering. Genetics 188(2):395-407

3)　　  Zhengjun Xia*,Hongyan Wu*and Premila N.Achar(2011) Infection and ultrastructure of conidia and pycnidia of Stenocarpella maydis in maize.J. Food Prot. 74(4):676–680.

4)　　  Sayama, T., Hwang,T.Y.,Yamazaki, H., YamaguchiN., Komatsu, K., Takahashi, M., Suzuki, C., Miyoshi, T3., Tanaka, Y., Xia Z,Tsubokura Y.,Watanabe, S, Harada, K., Funatsuki, H and Ishimoto, M.,(2010) Mapping and comparison of quantitative trait loci for soybean branching phenotype in two locations.Breeding Science 60: 380–389 

5)　　  Kong F, Liu B and Xia Z et al. Two coordinately regulated homologues of Flowering Time Locus T are involved in the control of photoperiodic flowering in soybean. Plant Physiology 154(3):1220-31.

6)　　  Liu B, Watanabe S, Uchiyama T, Kong F, Kanazawa A, Xia Z, Nagamatsu A, Arai M, Yamada T, Kitamura K, Masuta C, Harada K, Abe J. 2010 Soybean stem growth habit gene Dt1 is an orthologue of Arabidopsis TFL1. Plant Physiol. 153:198-210.

7)　　  Xia Z,, Watanabe, S, Chen, Q S,, Sato, S, Harada, K. 2009.A novel manual pooling system for preparing three-dimensional pools of a deep coverage soybean bacterial artificial chromosome library. Molecular Ecology Resources9(2):516-524.

8)　  Watanabe S, Hideshima R, Xia Z, Tsubokura Y, Sato S, Nakamoto Y, Yamanaka N, Takahashi R, Ishimoto M, Anai T, Tabata S, Harada K.2009.Map-based Cloning of the Gene Associated With Soybean Maturity Locus E3.Genetics. 182, 1251-1262.

9)　　  Xia Z, Tsubokura Y, Hoshi M, Hanawa M, Yano C, Okamura K, Ahmed TA, Anai T, Watanabe S, Hayashi M, Kawai T, Hossain KG, Masaki H, Asai K, Yamanaka N, Kubo N, Kadowaki K, Nagamura Y, Yano M, Sasaki T, Harada K.An integrated high-density linkage map of soybean with RFLP, SSR, STS, and AFLP markers using a single F2 population.DNA Res. 2007 Dec 31;14(6):257-69.

10) Hwang TY, Sayama T, Takahashi M, Takada Y, Nakamoto Y, Funatsuki H, Hisano H, Sasamoto S, Sato S, Tabata S, Kono I, Hoshi M, Hanawa M, Yano C, Xia Z, Harada K, Kitamura K, Ishimoto M.2009. High-density Integrated Linkage Map Based on SSR Markers in Soybean.DNA Res. 16(4)213-225

11) Yasutaka Tsubokura, Ryutaku Onda, Shusei Sato, Zhengjun Xia, Masaki Hayashi, Yukie Fukushima, Satoshi Tabata and Kyuya Harada.2008. Characterization of soybean genome based on synteny analysis with Lotus japonicus. Breeding Science 58(2):157-167

12) Shameema Akhter Ferdous, Satoshi Watanabe, Chika Suzuki-Orihara, Yoshinori Tanaka, Motokazu Kamiya, Zhengjun Xia, Naoki Yamanaka and Kyuya Harada. 2006. Conversion of AFLP Markers Surrounding a QTL, rhg-t1, for Soybean Cyst Nematode Resistance into PCR-based Markers. Breeding Science 56(2): 195-199.

13) Zhengjun Xia, Satoshi Watanabe, Naoki Yamanaka, Kyuya Harada, Hiroko Sato; Satoshi Watanabe; Shiji Kawasaki; and Kyuya Harada.. 2005 Construction and characterization of a BAC library of soybean. Euphytica141：129-137.

14) Kyuya Harada and Zhengjun Xia. 2004. Soybean genomics: efforts to reveal the complex genome (Review). Breeding Science 54:215-224.

15) Zhengjun Xia and P. N Achar. 2001. RAPD and PCR markers for the differentiation and detection of Stenocarpella maydis in maize seeds. J. of Phytopathology 149, 35-44.

16) Zhengjun Xia and P. N. Achar. 1999. Biochemical changes in cotton infected with Verticillium dahliae Kleb. African Plant Protection 5(1):59-63.

17) Zhengjun Xia, P. N. Achar and Gu Benkang. 1998. Vegetative Compatibility Groupings of Verticillium dahliae Kleb from cotton and eggplant in Mainland China. European J. of Plant Pathology, 104, 871-876.