Education

2006-2010, School of Life Sciences, South-central University For Nationalities, B.S.

2010-2015, School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Ph.D.

Professional Experience

2012-2015, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, Visiting Scholar.

2015-2019, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Postdoctoral Fellow

2018-2019, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor.

2019-, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Professor.

Research Area

For eukaryotes, a large portion of the genome is transcribed into RNA. In addition to mRNA, there are plenty of non-coding RNA in cells, which includes lncRNA, tRNA, rRNA and so on. The aberrant transcription and processing of RNA will lead to abnormal assembly of ribonucleoprotein, disturbing normal gene expression and regulation in cells. To uncover the biological functions of RNA, our lab focus on the following areas:

• RNA processing and modification

• Structural studies of RNA mediated gene expression and regulation

• The functions and mechanisms of RNA in regulating immune response

Selected Publications：(*Corresponding author, #co-first author)

1.Chen J^#*, Lin X^#, Xiang W, Chen Y, Zhao Y, Huang L, Liu L^*. DNA target binding-induced pre-crRNA processing in type II and V CRISPR-Cas systems. Nucleic Acids Research. 2024 Dec 16:gkae1241. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkae1241.
2.Chen J^#, Chen Y^#, Huang L^#, Lin X, Chen H, Xiang W, Liu L^*. Trans-nuclease activity of Cas9 activated by DNA or RNA target binding. Nature Biotechnology. 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41587-024-02255-7.
3.Chen J^#, Chen H^#, Li S^#, Lin X, Hu R, Zhang K^*, Liu L^*. Structural and mechanistic insight into ribosomal ITS2 RNA processing by nuclease-kinase machinery. eLife. 2024; 12:RP86847.
4.Chen J^#, Hu R^#, Chen Y^#, Lin X^#, Xiang W, Chen H, Yao C, Liu L^*. Structural basis for MTA1c-mediated DNA N6-adenine methylation. Nature Communications. 2022; 13(1):3257.
5.Liu L, Yin M, Wang M, Wang Y^*. Phage AcrⅡA2 DNA Mimicry: Structural Basis of the CRISPR/anti-CRISPR Arms Race. Molecular Cell. 2019; 73(3):611-620.e3.
6.Liu L^#, Li X^#, Ma J^#, Li Z^#, You L, Wang J, Wang M, Zhang X^*, Wang Y^*. The Molecular Architecture for RNA-Guided RNA Cleavage by Cas13a. Cell. 2017; 170:714-726.
7.Liu L, Li X, Wang J, Yin M, Chen P, Wang M, Li J, Sheng G, Wang Y^*. Two Distant Catalytic Sites Are Responsible for C2c2 RNase Activities. Cell. 2017; 168:121-134.
8.Liu L, Chen P, Wang M, Li X, Wang J, Yin M, Wang Y^*. C2c1-sgRNA Complex Structure Reveals RNA-guided DNA Cleavage Mechanism. Molecular Cell. 2017; 65(2):310-322.
9.Liu L^#, Chen JY^#, Yang B, Wang FH, Wang YH^*, Yun CH^*. Active-State Structures of a Small Heat-Shock Protein Revealed a Molecular Switch for Chaperone Function. Structure. 2015; 23:2066-75.
10.Liu L, Chen J, Yang B, Wang Y^*. Crystal structure and function of an unusual dimeric Hsp20.1 provide insight into the thermal protection mechanism of small heat shock proteins. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2015; 458:429-34.
11.Liu L, Chen J, Yang B, Wang Y^*. Oligomer-dependent and -independent chaperone activity of sHsps in different stressed conditions. FEBS Open Bio. 2015; 5:155-62.
12.Wang P, Zhang L, Chen S, Li R, Liu P, Li X, Luo H, Huo Y, Zhang Z, Cai Y, Liu X, Huang J, Zhou G, Sun Z, Ding S, Shi J, Zhou Z, Yuan R, Liu L, Wu S^*, Wang G^*. ANT2 functions as a translocon for mitochondrial cross-membrane translocation of RNAs. Cell Research. 2024; 34(7):504-521.
13.Sun W^#, Yang J^#, Cheng Z^#, Amrani N, Liu C, Wang K, Ibraheim R, Edraki A, Huang X, Wang M, Wang J, Liu L, Sheng G, Yang Y, Lou J, Sontheimer EJ, Wang Y^*；Structures of Neisseria meningitidis Cas9 Complexes in Catalytically Poised and Anti-CRISPR-Inhibited States；Molecular Cell. 2019; 76(6):938-952.e5.
14.You L^#, Ma J^#, Wang J^#, Artamonva D, Wang M, Liu L, Xiang X, Severinov K, Zhang X^*, Wang Y^*; Structure Studies of the CRISPR-Csm Complex Reveal Mechanism of Co-transcriptional Interference; Cell. 2019; 176(1-2):239-253.e16.
15.Zhao X, Liu L, Lang J, Cheng K, Wang Y, Li X, Shi J, Wang Y, Nie G^*. A CRISPR-Cas13a system for efficient and specific therapeutic targeting of mutant KRAS for pancreatic cancer treatment. Cancer Lett. 2018; 431:171-181.
16.Chen JY, Liu L, Cao CL, Li MJ, Tan K, Yang X, Yun CH^*. Structure and function of human Naa60 (NatF), a Golgi-localized bi-functional acetyltransferase. Sci Rep. 2016; 6:31425.