Jinquan Huang

Personal Information

Principal Investigator
Researcher
Email:huangjinquan@cemps.ac.cn
Personal Web:

Research Direction

Plant Metabolism and Trait Shaping

Research Unit

State Key Laboratory of Plant Trait Design

Jinquan Huang

Personal Profile

• Education:

2013–2018, Ph.D., Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences / University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

2009–2013, B.S., College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University

• Working experience:

2023–present, Principal Investigator,Professor, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

2021–2023, Assistant Professor (promoted to Associate Professor), Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

2019–2021, Postdoctoral Researcher, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Research Work

Plant natural products play a central role in biological defense, signal transduction, and environmental adaptation. They also serve as invaluable resources for drug discovery, crop improvement, and sustainable agriculture. Owing to their remarkable structural diversity and functional richness, systematically deciphering the biosynthetic networks and regulatory mechanisms of natural products is not only of fundamental scientific importance but also holds great potential for translational applications.

Our research focuses on the biosynthetic mechanisms, enzymatic properties, and evolutionary patterns of plant small‑molecule natural products. We specifically investigate the biosynthetic pathways of key terpenoids and phenylpropanoids, aiming to elucidate their functions in plant development and stress responses. On this basis, we have developed a range of elite germplasm materials with significant agricultural value. Leveraging interdisciplinary approaches such as synthetic biology and bioinformatics, we are now constructing tunable biosynthetic modules for natural products and exploring their rational design and precise utilization, thereby paving new paths for the efficient exploitation of plant chemical resources.

Main Achievements

Dr. Huang Jinquan has long been dedicated to elucidating the biosynthetic and regulatory mechanisms of plant small-molecule natural products. His research has successfully deciphered the biosynthetic pathways and regulatory networks of multiple key terpenoid and phenylpropanoid compounds, and has led to the creation of several novel plant germplasms with significant agricultural applications. He has been the recipient of prestigious talent programs, including the Excellent Young Scientists Fund (National Natural Science Foundation of China), the Shanghai Oriental Talents Program (Youth Project), the Shanghai “Qimingxing” Program, and the CAS Shanghai Branch Youth Peak-Climbing Program. Dr. Huang has published numerous high-impact papers as first or corresponding (including co-corresponding) author in leading journals such as Science, Nature Plants, Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Communications, Molecular Plant, PNAS, and Advanced Science.

Publications

1. Lin JL, Wu WK, Nie GB, Li JX, Fang X, Sheng YG, Wang MM, Zheng QY, Guo XX, Huang JF, Ma LY, Wang LJ, Liu JX, Wang SS, Xu B, Gao Y, Li Y, Wang D, Martin C, Chen XY^*, Huang JQ^*. A dirigent protein redirects extracellular terpenoid metabolism for defense against biotic challenges. Nature Communications. 2025 October;16:9270

2. Wu WK^#, Nie GB^#, Lin JL^#, Huang JF^#, Guo XX, Chen M, Fang X, Mao YB, Li Y, Wang LJ, Tao XY, Gao Y, Yang ZR, Huang JQ^*. Regulation of glandular size and phytoalexin biosynthesis by a negative feedback loop in cotton. Adv Sci. 2024 Aug;11(30):e2403059.2.

3. Gao YQ^#, Huang JQ^#, Reyt G, Song T, Love A, Tiemessen D, Xue PY, Wu WK, George MW, Chen XY, Chao DY^*, Castrillo G^*, Salt DE^*. A dirigent protein complex directs lignin polymerization and assembly of the root diffusion barrier. Science. 2023 Oct 27;382(6669):464-471.

4. Lin JL, Fang X, Li JX, Chen ZW, Wu WK, Guo XX, Liu NJ, Huang JF, Chen FY, Wang LJ, Xu B, Martin C, Chen XY^*, Huang JQ^*. Dirigent gene editing of gossypol enantiomers for toxicity-depleted cotton seeds. Nat Plants. 2023 Apr;9(4):605-615.

5. Lin JL^#, Chen L^#, Wu WK, Guo XX, Yu CH, Xu M, Nie GB, Dun JL, Li Y, Xu B, Wang LJ, Chen XY, Gao W^*, Huang JQ^*. Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals a hierarchical transcriptional regulatory network of terpenoid biosynthesis in cotton secretory glandular cells. Mol Plant. 2023 Dec 4;16(12):1990-2003.

6. Huang JQ and Chen XY. Removing the toxic enantiomer from crop products with selective gene editing. Nat Plants. 2023 Apr;9(4):513-514.

7. Huang JQ^#, Li DM^#, Tian X, Lin JL, Yang L, Xu JJ, Fang X. Side products of recombinant Amorpha-4,11-diene synthase and their effect on microbial Artemisinin production. J Agric Food Chem. 2021 Feb 24;69(7):2168-2178.

8. Huang JQ, Li DM, Li JX, Lin JL, Tian X, Wang LJ, Chen XY, Fang X. 1,10/1,11-Cyclization catalyzed by diverged plant sesquiterpene synthases is dependent on a single residue. Org Biomol Chem. 2021 Aug 5;19(30):6650-6656.

9. Huang JQ^#, Fang X^#, Tian X, Chen P, Lin JL, Guo XX, Li JX, Fan Z, Song WM, Chen FY, Ahati R, Wang LJ, Zhao Q, Martin C, Chen XY^*. Aromatization of natural products by a specialized detoxification enzyme. Nat Chem Biol. 2020 Mar;16(3):250-256.

10. Huang JQ, Lin JL, Guo XX, Tian X, Tian Y, Shangguan XX, Wang LJ, Fang X, Chen XY. RES transformation for biosynthesis and detoxification. Sci China Life Sci. 2020 Sep;63(9):1297-1302.

11. Huang G, Huang JQ, Chen XY, Zhu YX. Recent advances and future perspectives in cotton research. Annu Rev Plant Biol. 2021 Jun 17;72:437-462.

12. Cao JF, Huang JQ, Liu X, Huang CC, Zheng ZS, Zhang XF, Shangguan XX, Wang LJ, Zhang YG, Wendel JF, Grover CE, Chen ZW. Genome-wide characterization of the GRF family and their roles in response to salt stress in Gossypium. BMC Genomics. 2020 Aug 24;21(1):575.

13. Tian X, Fang X, Huang JQ, Wang LJ, Mao YB, Chen XY. A gossypol biosynthetic intermediate disturbs plant defence response. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2019 Mar 4;374(1767):20180319.

14. Tian X^#, Ruan JX^#, Huang JQ^#, Yang CQ^#, Fang X, Chen ZW, Hong H, Wang LJ, Mao YB, Lu S, Zhang TZ, Chen XY. Characterization of gossypol biosynthetic pathway. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Jun 5;115(23):E5410-E5418.

15. Fang X, Li JX, Huang JQ, Xiao YL, Zhang P, Chen XY. Systematic identification of functional residues of Artemisia annua amorpha-4,11-diene synthase. Biochem J. 2017 Jun 16;474(13):2191-2202.

16. Tian X, Ruan JX, Huang JQ, Fang X, Mao YB, Wang LJ, Chen XY, Yang CQ. Gossypol: phytoalexin of cotton. Sci China Life Sci. 2016 Feb;59(2):122-9.