Xin Jie Chen, PhD

Current Appointments

• Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Hospital Campus

• Downtown

Education & Fellowships

• PhD: University of Paris-Sud, 1987, Molecular and Cellular Genetics

Publications

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Research Abstract

Mitochondria are the powerhouses that generate energy by oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to support cellular activities, and are the integrators of cellular signals that promote cell death. Mitochondria are also known as the “powerhouses of diseases and aging”, as mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with a rapidly growing number of aging-related neuromuscular degenerative diseases and metabolic disorders. How the mitochondrial function deteriorates during aging and how this in turn induces cellular degeneration are poorly understood. We use yeast, cultured cell lines and mouse as model systems to address these questions.

The ongoing research in our laboratory is focused on the following three projects:

(1) We are interested in understanding how mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to aging and aging-related diseases.

(2) We are interested in identifying evolutionarily conserved pathways that can potentially delay and possibly, reverse mitochondria-induced cellular degeneration.

(3) We investigate the mechanisms of mitochondrial DNA recombination, replication and repair. Elucidating these fundamental processes could help better understanding how the mitochondrial system degenerates during aging.

Selected publications:

Chen, X.J. (2013) Mechanism of homologous recombination and implications for aging-related deletions in mitochondrial DNA. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, in press.

Mbantenkhu, M., Wierzbicki, S., Wang, X., Guo, S., Wilkens, S., Chen, X.J. (2013) A short carboxyl-terminal tail is required for single-stranded DNA binding, higher-order structural organization, and stability of the mitochondrial single-stranded annealing protein Mgm101. Mol Biol Cell 24:1507-18.

Nardozzi, J.D. *, Wang, X.* (* equal contribution), Mbantenkhu, M., Wilkens, S. and Chen, X.J. (2012) A properly configured ring structure is critical for the function of the mitochondrial DNA recombination protein, Mgm101. J Biol Chem 287:37259-68.

Chen, X.J. (2011) The search for nonconventional mitochondrial determinants of aging. Mol Cell 42:271-273. (Preview)

Mbantenkhu, M.*, Wang, X.* (* equal contribution), Nardozzi, J.D., Wilkens, S., Hoffman, E., Patel, A., Costrove, M.S. and Chen, X.J. (2011) Mgm101 is a Rad52-related protein required for mitochondrial DNA recombination. J Biol Chem 286:42360-70.

Wang X, Salinas K, Zuo X, Kucejova B, Chen XJ. (2008) Dominant membrane uncoupling by mutant adenine nucleotide translocase in mitochondrial diseases. Hum Mol Genet. 17:4036-44.

Wang X, Zuo X, Kucejova B, Chen XJ. Reduced cytosolic protein synthesis suppresses mitochondrial degeneration (2008) Nat Cell Biol. 10:1090-7.