I'm a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at Leiden University investigating interkingdom signaling between beneficial bacteria and fungal plant pathogens. My research explores how bacterial lipopeptides influence fungal behavior in sugarcane smut disease, aiming to develop innovative biocontrol strategies for sustainable agriculture and global food security.

More information about Yixu Wang

My research focuses on interkingdom signaling mechanisms between beneficial bacteria and fungal plant pathogens. I investigate how bacterial lipopeptides from Bacillus subtilis species complex influence the behavior of Sporisorium scitamineum (sugarcane smut pathogen) at sub-inhibitory concentrations. Using advanced analytical techniques including HPLC-MS/MS and RNA-seq, I explore how these compounds function as signaling molecules rather than just antimicrobials, with implications for developing sustainable biocontrol strategies.

I obtained a PhD in Microbiology from Open University (conducted at ICGEB, Italy), with expertise in bacterial cell-cell signaling, molecular biology, and microbial genomics. I have an international research experience across Italy and China, with leadership experience supervising students. Currently I am a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow at Leiden University investigating interkingdom microbial interactions for sustainable agriculture applications.

Grants and prize:

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship, Horizon Europe (2025-present)
• The Open University Ph.D. Fellowship (2020-2023)
• ICGEB Arturo Falaschi Long-term Ph.D. Fellowship (2019)
• Third Prize of Master Degree Candidate's Academic Scholarship (2015-2017)
• First Prize of Excellent Undergraduate Scholarship (2014-2015)
• Excellent Announcer at Academic Broadcasting Station, University of Jinan (2011-2012)

Publications

• Wang, Y., Fuzinatto Dall'Agnol, R., Bertani, I., Bez, C., & Venturi, V. (2024). 'Identification of synthetic consortia from a set of plant-beneficial bacteria.' Microbial biotechnology, 17(2), e14330.

https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.14330

• Wang, Y., Deng, Y. Z., Cui, G., Zhang, B., Chang, C., et al. (2019). 'The AGC Kinase SsAgc1 Regulates Sporisorium scitamineum Mating/Filamentation and Pathogenicity.' mSphere, 4(3), e00259-

19. https://doi:10.1128/mSphere.00259-19

• Cui, G., Huang, C., Bi, X., Wang, Y., et al. (2022). 'Aminotransferase SsAro8 Regulates Tryptophan Metabolism Essential for Filamentous Growth of Sugarcane Smut Fungus Sporisorium

scitamineum.' Microbiology spectrum, 10(4), e0057022. https://doi:10.1128/spectrum.00570-22