Tzi-Yuan Wang

Academia Sinica · Biodiversity Research Center

Neocallimastix patriciarum is one of the common anaerobic fungi in the digestive tracts of ruminants that can actively digest cellulosic materials, and its cellulases have great potential for hydrolyzing cellulosic feedstocks. Due to the difficulty in culture and lack of a genome database, it is not easy to gain a global understanding of the glycos...

Background: As a strong fermentator, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has the potential to be an excellent host for ethanol production by consolidated bioprocessing. For this purpose, it is necessary to transform cellulose genes into the yeast genome because it contains no cellulose genes. However, heterologous protein expression in S. cerevisiae often su...

Catadromous fishes migrate between ocean and freshwater during particular phases of their life cycle. The dramatic environmental changes shape their physiological features, e.g. visual sensitivity, olfactory ability, and salinity tolerance. Anguilla marmorata, a catadromous eel, migrates upstream on dark nights, following the lunar cycle. Such beha...

We studied the evolution of opsin genes in 59 ray-fnned fsh genomes. We identifed the opsin genes and adjacent genes (syntenies) in each genome. Then we inferred the changes in gene copy number (N), syntenies, and tuning sites along each phylogenetic branch during evolution. The Exorh (rod opsin) gene has been retained in 56 genomes. Rh1, the intro...

Introduced freshwater fishes considerably influence the ecology and populations of native species. Previous research has revealed that introduced Zacco platypus may hybridize with chubs that are sister but distinct genera. However, we have little knowledge of Z. platypus' mate choice or its impact on Taiwanese chubs. Therefore, this study identifie...

Background: Over 50 Taiwanese firefly species have been discovered, but scientists lack information regarding most of their genetics, bioluminescent features, and cohabitating phenomena. In this study, we focus on morphological species identification and phylogeny reconstructed by COI barcoding, as well as luminescent characteristics of cohabited...

The evolutionary dynamics and phylogenetic utility of mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) have been of particular interest to systematists and evolutionary biologists. However, certain mitochondrial features, such as the molecular evolution of the control region in insects, remain poorly explored due to technological constraints. Using a combinatio...

Cyprinids (carps, chubs and minnows) possess well-developed hearing and high sensitivity to sound pressure. The sensitive hearing may assist cyprinids with searching for food, territory defense, and mating behavior. Many paired fishes violently shake in sand and gravel while spawning in rivers. However, no study has examined the ecological importan...

The Chinese ricefish (Oryzias sinensis) is a freshwater fish that is regionally endangered in Taiwan. To evaluate its conservation status and further formulate conservation plans for this species in Taiwan, this study analyzed the fish collected from all known localities, including a newly discovered population. The phylogenetic trees based on D-lo...

Marine drifting animals — zooplankton — play essential ecological roles in the pelagic ecosystem, transferring energy and elements to higher trophic levels, such as fishes, cetaceans, and others. Zooplankton are generally considered passive drifting organisms homogeneously distributed throughout waters, where high dispersal is expected. Although em...

Ha-Soo-Oh is a traditional Chinese medicine prepared from the roots of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. The herb extract has been widely used in Asian countries as a tonic agent and nutritional supplement for centuries. To identify new bioactive compounds in Chinese herbs, the biotransformation-guided purification (BGP) process was applied to Ha-Soo-Oh...

This study demonstrated the enzymatic hydroxylation of glycitin to 3′-hydroxyglycitin, confirming the structure by mass and nucleic magnetic resonance spectral analyses. The bioactivity assays further revealed that the new compound possessed over 100-fold higher 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazine free-radical scavenging activity than the original glyci...

Since the first report of SARS-CoV-2 in December 2019, Taiwan had gone through three local outbreaks. Unlike the first two, the spatial and temporal origin of the third outbreak (April 20 to November 5, 2021) is still unclear. We sequenced and reconstructed the phylogeny of SARS-CoV-2 genomes and find that the third outbreak was caused by a single...

Natural compounds are considered treasures in biotechnology; however, in the past, the process of discovering bioactive compounds is time consuming, and the purification and validation of the biofunctions and biochemistry of compounds isolated from a medicinal herb are tedious tasks. In this study, we developed an economical process called biotrans...

Puerarin (daidzein-8-C-glucoside) is an isoflavone isolated from several leguminous plants of the genus Pueraria. Puerarin possesses several pharmacological properties; however, the poor solubility of puerarin limits its applications. To resolve this poor solubility, Deinococcus geothermalis amylosucrase (DgAS) was used to modify puerarin into more...

High-throughput sequencing has enabled genome skimming approaches to produce complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) for species identification and phylogenomics purposes. In particular, the portable sequencing device from Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) has the potential to facilitate hands-on training from sampling to sequencing and inter...

Glycosylation occurring at either lipids, proteins, or sugars plays important roles in many biological systems. In nature, enzymatic glycosylation is the formation of a glycosidic bond between the anomeric carbon of the donor sugar and the functional group of the sugar acceptor. This study found novel glycoside anomers without an anomeric carbon li...

High-throughput sequencing has enabled genome skimming approaches to produce complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) for species identification and phylogenomics purposes. In particular, the portable sequencing device from Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) has the potential to facilitate hands-on training from sampling to sequencing and inter...

Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) represents the most used phthalate plasticizer with an annual production above the millions of tons worldwide. Due to its inadequate disposal, outstanding chemical stability, and extremely low solubility (3 mg/L), endocrine-disrupting DEHP often accumulates in urban estuarine sediments at concentrations above the...

It is highly challenging to evaluate the species’ content and behavior changes in wild fireflies, especially for a sympatric population. Here, the flash interval (FI) and flash duration (FD) of flying males from three sympatric species (Abscondita cerata, Luciola kagiana, and Luciola curtithorax) were investigated for their potentials in assessing...

Mangiferin is a natural antioxidant C-glucosidic xanthone originally isolated from the Mangifera indica (mango) plant. Mangiferin exhibits a wide range of pharmaceutical activities. However, mangiferin’s poor solubility limits its applications. To resolve this limitation of mangiferin, enzymatic glycosylation of mangiferin to produce more soluble m...

Vitexin is a C-glucoside flavone that exhibits a wide range of pharmaceutical activities. However, the poor solubility of vitexin limits its applications. To resolve this limitation, two glycoside hydrolases (GHs) and four glycosyltransferases (GTs) were assayed for glycosylation activity toward vitexin. The results showed that BtGT_16345 from the...

8-Hydroxydaidzein (8-OHDe) is a non-natural isoflavone polyphenol isolated from fermented soybean foods. 8-OHDe exhibits a wide range of pharmaceutical activities. However, both the poor solubility and instability of 8-OHDe limit its applications. To resolve the limitations of 8-OHDe, Deinococcus geothermalis amylosucrase (DgAS) has previously been...

The soil bacterium Psychrobacillus sp. strain AK 1817 was isolated from a tropical soil sample collected in Taiwan. Strain AK 1817 biotransforms the ergostane triterpenoid antcin K from the fungus Antrodia cinnamomea . The genome was sequenced using the PacBio RS II platform and consists of one chromosome of 4,096,020 bp, comprising 3,907 protein-c...

Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal fungus abundant in triterpenoids, its primary bioactive components. Although numerous Ganoderma triterpenoids have already been identified, rare Ganoderma triterpenoid saponins were recently discovered. To create novel Ganoderma saponins, ganoderic acid G (GAG) was selected for biotransformation using four Bacillus...

We sequenced and assembled the complete mitochondrial genome of Abscondita cerata from Nankang, Taipei City, Taiwan. The complete mitogenome of A. cerata is 16,964 bp long, and contains 13 protein-coding, 22 tRNA, and two rDNA genes. Nucleotide compositions of the mitogenome of the A. cerata are A: 43.93%, T: 36.74%, C: 11.05%, and G: 8.28%. The AT...

Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal fungus whose numerous triterpenoids are its main bioactive constituents. Although hundreds of Ganoderma triterpenoids have been identified, Ganoderma triterpenoid glycosides, also named triterpenoid saponins, have been rarely found. Ganoderic acid A (GAA), a major Ganoderma triterpenoid, was synthetically cascaded t...

Celastrol is a quinone-methide triterpenoid isolated from the root extracts of Tripterygium wilfordii (Thunder god vine). Although celastrol possesses multiple bioactivities, the potent toxicity and rare solubility in water hinder its clinical application. Biotransformation of celastrol using either whole cells or purified enzymes to form less toxi...

Ganoderic acid A (GAA) is a triterpenoid with identified effective activity, isolated from Ganoderma lucidum. Glycosylation of triterpenoid might improve its anti‐toxin bioactivity and also increase both water solubility and physical‐chemical stability. Glycosylation is carried out by glycosyltransferases (GT, EC 2.4.x.y), a type of enzyme that uti...

Strain GA A07 was identified as an intestinal Bacillus bacterium of zebrafish, which has high efficiency to biotransform the triterpenoid, ganoderic acid A (GAA), into GAA-15-O-β-glucoside. To date, only two known enzymes (BsUGT398 and BsUGT489) of Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 strain can biotransform GAA. It is thus worthwhile to identify the respon...

Ribosomal protein (RP) genes encode structural components of ribosomes, the cellular machinery for protein synthesis. A single functional copy has been maintained in most of 78-80 RP families in animals due to evolutionary constraints imposed by gene dosage balance. Some fungal species have maintained duplicate copies in most RP families. The mecha...

Ganoderic acid A (GAA) is a bioactive triterpenoid isolated from the medicinal fungus Ganoderma lucidum. Our previous study showed that the Bacillus subtilis ATCC (American type culture collection) 6633 strain could biotransform GAA into compound (1), GAA-15-O-β-glucoside, and compound (2). Even though we identified two glycosyltransferases (GT) to...

Ribosomal proteins (RPs) genes encode structure components of ribosomes, the cellular machinery for protein synthesis. A single functional copy has been maintained in most of 78-80 RP families in animals due to evolutionary constraints imposed by gene dosage balance. Some fungal species have maintained duplicate copies in most RP families. How the...

8-Hydroxydaidzein (8-OHDe), an ortho-hydroxylation derivative of soy isoflavone daidzein isolated from some fermented soybean foods, has been demonstrated to possess potent anti-inflammatory activity. However, the isoflavone aglycone is poorly soluble and unstable in alkaline solutions. To improve the aqueous solubility and stability of the functio...

The medicinal fungus Ganoderma lucidum contains many bioactive triterpenoids, ganoderic acid A (GAA) being one of the major ones. The present study explored the microbial biotransformation of GAA, isolating 283 strains of soil actinomycetes and determining their abilities to biotransform GAA with ultra-performance liquid chromatography analysis. On...

Bacillus subtilis ATCC (American type culture collection) 6633 was found to biotransform ganoderic acid A (GAA), which is a major lanostane triterpenoid from the medicinal fungus Ganoderma lucidum. Five glycosyltransferase family 1 (GT1) genes of this bacterium, including two uridine diphosphate-dependent glycosyltransferase (UGT) genes, BsUGT398 a...

Expression of nuptial color is usually energetically costly, and is therefore regarded as an 'honest signal' to reflect mate quality. In order to choose a mate with high quality, both sexes may benefit from the ability to precisely evaluate their mates through optimizing visual systems which is in turn partially regulated by opsin gene modification...

Functional bacteria that could biotransform triterpenoids may exist in the diverse microflora of fish intestines. Ganoderic acid A (GAA) is a major triterpenoid from the medicinal fungus Ganoderma lucidum. In studying the microbial biotransformation of GAA, dozens of intestinal bacteria were isolated from the excreta of zebrafish. The bacteria’s ab...

8-Hydroxydaidzein (8-OHDe) has been proven to possess some important bioactivities; however, the low aqueous solubility and stability of 8-OHDe limit its pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical applications. The present study focuses on glycosylation of 8-OHDe to improve its drawbacks in solubility and stability. According to the results of phylogenetic a...

Kluyveromyces marxianus, a probiotic yeast, is important in industrial applications because it has a broad substrate spectrum, a rapid growth rate and high thermotolerance. To date, however, there has been little effort in its genetic engineering by the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Therefore, we aimed at establishing the CRISPR/Cas9 system in K. marxianus a...

The complete mitochondrial genomes of 76 species from 43 genera under Cyprinidae sensu lato were collected to reassess the molecular phylogeny of Opsariichthyinae sensu Liao et al. 2011. The mitogenomes of three species, Candidia barbata, Opsariichthys evolans, and Opsariichthys pachycephalus, were newly sequenced. Phylogenetic trees were reconstru...