Youxing Jiang, PhD

Associate Professor
Endowed Title: W.W. Caruth Jr. Scholar in Biomedical Research 2003-2007
W.W. Caruth Jr. Scholar in Biomedical Research 2003-2007
Physiology
Graduate Program: Molecular Biophysics
Neuroscience
Download Curriculum Vitae

Contact Information

UT Southwestern Medical Center
5323 Harry Hines Boulevard
Dallas, Texas 75390

Office Phone: 214-645-6000

youxing.jiang@utsouthwestern.edu

Education

Graduate SchoolYale University (1997)
UndergraduatePeking University - China (1992)

Research Interests

Ion channels and membrane transporters: The research of our laboratory has been focusing on the structural and functional studies of ion channels and transporters which control the flow of ions across the cell membrane. These proteins regulate many biological processes such as the excitation of nerve and muscle cells, the secretion of hormones, and sensory transduction.
Ion selectivity of tetrameric cation Channels: To understand the structural basis of ion selectivity in tetrameric cation channels, we have been using the NaK channel as the model system to elucidate the basic principles of ion selectivity in CNG channels and K+ channels.
Ion transporters: The study on ion transporters in the lab has been focused on Na+/Ca2+ exchangers (NCX) which are crucial membrane transporters in maintaining the homeostasis of cytosolic Ca2+ for cell signaling. With the determination of a high-resolution structure of an NCX protein from Methanococcus jannaschii (NCX_Mj), we now have a working model system to elucidate the structural basis and mechanistic details of ion exchange in NCX proteins.
Ligand gating of cation channels: To study channel gating, the lab focuses on a group of ligand gated K+ channels that are regulated by a conserved ligand binding domain, the RCK domain. This group includes the majority of prokaryotic K+ channels and the eukaryotic high-conductance Ca2+-gated K+ channels (BK or maxiK).
Our research approach is a combination of membrane protein X-ray crystallography, aimed at determining the three dimensional structure of the ion transporting proteins, and channel electrophysiology, to study the physiological functions of these proteins.

Publications

Featured
Tuning the ion selectivity of tetrameric cation channels by changing the number of ion binding sites.

Derebe MG, Sauer DB, Zeng W, Alam A, Shi N, Jiang Y, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011 Jan; 108 (2):598-602

Featured
Structural studies of ion permeation and Ca2+ blockage of a bacterial channel mimicking the cyclic nucleotide-gated channel pore.

Derebe MG, Zeng W, Li Y, Alam A, Jiang Y, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011 Jan; 108 (2):592-7

Featured
Structure of the gating ring from the human large-conductance Ca(2+)-gated K(+) channel.

Wu Y, Yang Y, Ye S, Jiang Y, Nature, 2010 Jul; 466 (7304):393-7

Featured
High-resolution structure of the open NaK channel.

Alam A, Jiang Y, Nature structural & molecular biology, 2009 Jan; 16 (1):30-4

Featured
Crystal structures of a ligand-free MthK gating ring: insights into the ligand gating mechanism of K+ channels.

Ye S, Li Y, Chen L, Jiang Y, Cell, 2006 Sep; 126 (6):1161-73

Featured
Atomic structure of a Na+- and K+-conducting channel.

Shi N, Ye S, Alam A, Chen L, Jiang Y, Nature, 2006 Mar; 440 (7083):570-4

Protein interactions central to stabilizing the K+ channel selectivity filter in a four-sited configuration for selective K+ permeation.

Sauer DB, Zeng W, Raghunathan S, Jiang Y, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011 Oct; 108 (40):16634-9

Structural studies of ion selectivity in tetrameric cation channels.

Alam A, Jiang Y, The Journal of general physiology, 2011 May; 137 (5):397-403

Crystal structure of a potassium ion transporter, TrkH.

Cao Y, Jin X, Huang H, Derebe MG, Levin EJ, Kabaleeswaran V, Pan Y, Punta M, Love J, Weng J, Quick M, Ye S, Kloss B, Bruni R, Martinez-Hackert E, Hendrickson WA, Rost B, Javitch JA, Rajashankar KR, Jiang Y, Zhou M, Nature, 2011 Mar; 471 (7338):336-40

Crucial Points within the Pore as Determinants of K(+) Channel Conductance and Gating.

Shi N, Zeng W, Ye S, Li Y, Jiang Y, Journal of molecular biology, 2011 Aug; 411 (1):27-35

Honors/Awards

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Investigator (2008)

McKnight Scholar Award

The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience (2006)

David and Lucile Packard Fellowship

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation (2004)

Searle Scholars Award

The Searle Scholars Program (2004)

Endowed Scholar

UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (2003)