XIAOFENG ZHOU
Citrus Research and Education Center
700 Experiment Station Road, Lake Alfred,33850 | 352-870-1224 | zhouxfd@ufl.edu
EDUCATION
2004-2008: B.S. in Plant Protection, Jilin University, Changchun, China
2008-2011: M.S. in Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
2011-present: Ph.D. candidate in Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of Florida
RESEARCH
Ph.D. doctoral Research, University of Florida (2011–Present)

Dissecting citrus host responses to an avirulence effector AvrGf1 in Xanthomonas citri by
combined Isobaric Tags for Relative and Absolute Quantification (iTRAQ) and microarray
analysis;

Phosphorylation of serine 654 in planta attenuates protease activity of Lon, a negative
regulator of hrp gene expression in Xanthomonas citri;

Genome-wide binding sites identification of a GntR regulator required for virulence in
Xanthomonas citri using ChiP-exo;

Phosphoproteome analysis of canker pathogen Xanthomonas citri in both nonpathogenic and pathogenic conditions.
Graduate Research Assistant, China Agricultural University (2008–2011)

Knockout analysis of conidiation-related genes in Magnaporthe oryzae;

Binding site identification of a conidiation-related regulator COS1 using ChiP-seq;

Yeast one-hybrid screening for transcription factors binding to cis-regulatory elements
of two protease inhibitors OsPinA and OsPinB in rice, which are induced by rice blast
fungi Magnaporthe oryzae.
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Jilin University (2004–2008)

Purification of an extracellular cellulase from an alkali-resistant Actinomyces strain;
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Teaching Assistant, Advanced Microbiology Lab, University of Florida (2011);
Class advisor Assistant, Class Management, China Agricultural University (2009)
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Phytopathological Society (2012–Present)
PUBLICATIONS
Zhou, X., Hu, X., Li, J., and Wang, N. 2015. A Novel Periplasmic Protein, VrpA, Contributes
to Efficient Protein Secretion by the Type III Secretion System in Xanthomonas spp. Mol.
Plant-Microbe Interact. 28:143-153. (Editor’s pick on February issue)
Zhang, Y., Jalan, N., Zhou, X., Goss, E., Jones, J.B., Setubal, J.C., Deng, X., and Wang, N.
2015. Positive selection is the main driving force for evolution of citrus canker-causing
Xanthomonas. The ISME journal doi: 10.1038
ABSTRACT
Xiaofeng Zhou, Jeffery B. Jones, Nian Wang. Dissecting the mechanism of avirulence factor
AvrGf1 of Xanthomonas citri in inducing hypersensitive response (HR) on citrus. American
Phytopathological Society, 2013.
Xiaofeng Zhou, Nian Wang. A Sec-dependent periplasmic protein VrpA is required for
efficient secretion of type III secretion system and virulence in Xanthomonas citri subsp.
citri. American Phytopathological Society, 2014.