Our laboratory is interested in a variety of mechanisms by which microbes may be capable of extracellular electron transfer (EET), a critical step in a variety of microbially-mediated phenomena ranging from biogeochemical cycling to electricity generation in microbial fuel cells (MFCs), under anaerobic conditions in coastal zone, such as direct contact with electrodes and/or minerals, electron transfer mediated by soluble redox shuttles, biogenic structures such as pili or other filaments, or biofilm formation.     

      Specifically, we take an interdisciplinary approach to studying the molecular mechanisms of interaction between microorganisms and (semi)conductive minerals that underlie putatively unique forms of microbial respiration in coastal zone. By understanding the way extant organisms function at the molecular level, we hope eventually to gain insights into the novel metabolic and biomineralization pathways, interpret the chemical and physical signatures of EET found in coastal zone, and understand how (semi)conductive minerals or nanoparticlesfacilitate EET between microorganisms.

• Soil carbon cycle
• Methanogenesis
• Soil Bio-mineral Interaction
• Biological mineralization
• Syntrophy
• Microbial Interspecies electron transfer
• Iron oxidizing and reducing community

Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA, USA, 2013

Max Planck Society Visiting Scholar, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany, 2011

Ph.D., Microbiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China, 2009

B.S., Bioengineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, China, 2002

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Two Hundred Talents. Chinese Academy of Sciences. 2015-2020

Hundred Talents. Chinese Academy of Sciences. 2014-2017

Fellowship from Max Planck Society in Germany. 2009-2011

代表研究成果(通讯及第一作者):

1. Leilei Xiao, Fanghua Liu*, Jinchao Liu, Jiajia Li, Yuechao Zhang, Jiafeng Yu and Oumei Wang*. Nano-Fe₃O₄ particles accelerating electromethanogenesis on an hour-long timescale in wetland soil. Environmental Science: Nano 2017, DOI: 10.1039/C7EN00577F. (Impact Factor=6.047)

2. Zheng S, Wang B, Liu F*, Wang O*. Magnetite production and transformation in the methanogenic consortia from coastal riverine sediments. Journal of Microbiology.2017. 55:1-9.

3. Zheng S, Wang B, Li Y, Liu F*, Wang O*. Electrochemically active iron (III)- reducing bacteria in coastal riverine sediments. J Basic Microbiol. 2017; 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1002/jobm.201700322.

4. Zheng, S., Liu, F.*, Li, M., Xiao, L., and Wang, O*. Comparative transcriptomic insights into the mechanisms of electron transfer in Geobacter co-cultures with activated carbon and magnetite. Sci China Life Sci 2017: 60, 1–12. doi: 10.1007/s11427-017-9177-1.

5. 王炳臣, 郑世玲, 张洪霞, 魏文超, 王欧美, 刘芳华*. 渤海不同区域沉积物古菌的多样性分析.《海洋科学》.2017, 41, 8-16.

6. 张洪霞, 郑世玲, 魏文超, 王炳臣, 王欧美, 刘芳华*. 水分条件对滨海芦苇湿地土壤微生物多样性的影响.《海洋科学》.2017, 41,144-152.

7. Wenchao Wei, Yanyan Zhang, Rachel Komorek, Andrew Plymale, Rujia Yu, Bingchen Wang, Zihua Zhu, Fanghua Liu*, Xiao-Ying Yu*. Characterization of syntrophic Geobacter communities using ToF-SIMS. Biointerphases, 2017, 12,05G601.

8. Hongxia Zhang, Shiling Zheng, Jiawang Ding, Oumei Wang*, Fanghua Liu*. Spatial variation in bacterial community in natural wetland-river-sea ecosystems. Journal of Basic Microbiology, 2017, 57, 536-546.

9. Leilei Xiao, BaohuaXie, Jinchao Liu, Hongxia Zhang, Guangxuan Han, Oumei Wang*, Fanghua Liu*, Stimulation of long-term ammonium nitrogen deposition on methanogenesis by Methanocellaceae in a coastal wetland, Science of The Total Environment, 2017, 595, 337-343. (Impact Factor=4.9)

10. 李莹, 郑世玲, 张洪霞, 王炳臣, 王欧美, 刘芳华*. 产甲烷分离物中Clostridium spp.与Methanosarcina barkeri潜在的种间直接电子传递.《微生物学通报》. 2017, 44, 591-600.

11. 刘芳华*, 杨翠云, 肖雷雷. 加强电微生物学研究, 持续利用海岸带新型微生物资源. 《中国科学院院刊》. 2016, 31(10): 1226-1232.   

12. 陈蕾, 张洪霞, 李莹, 郑世玲, 刘芳华*. 微生物在地球化学铁循环过程中的作用. 《中国科学. 生命科学》.2016, 46 (9): 1069-1078.

13. Cuiyun Yang, Shengtao Fang, Dehui Chen, Jianhua Wang, Fanghua Liu*, Chuanhai Xia*. The possible role of bacterial signal molecules N-acyl homoserine lactones in the formation of diatom-biofilm (Cylindrotheca sp.). Marine Pollution Bulletin. 2016, 107,(1): 118-124. (Impact Factor=3.146) (Times Cited: 4)

14. Shiling Zheng, Hongxia Zhang, Ying Li, Hua Zhang, Oumei Wang*, Jun Zhang, Fanghua Liu*. Co-occurrence of Methanosarcina mazei and Geobacteraceae in an iron(III)-reducing enrichment culture. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2015, 6:941. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00941 (Impact Factor=3.989) (Times Cited: 3)

*：corresponding author.

15. Fanghua Liu*, Amelia-Elena Rotaru, Pravin Malla Shrestha, Nikhil S. Malvankar, Kelly P. Nevin, Derek R. Lovley. Magnetite Compensates for the Lack of a c-Type Cytochrome in Extracellular Electron Exchange. Environmental Microbiology. 2015. 17: 648–655. (Impact Factor=5.395) (Times Cited: 43)

*：corresponding author.

16. Fanghua Liu*, Amelia-Elena Rotaru, Pravin Malla Shrestha, Nikhil S. Malvankar, Kelly P. Nevin, Derek R. Lovley. Promoting direct interspecies electron transfer with activated carbon. Energy & Environmental Science. 2012, 5: 8982-8989. (Impact Factor=29.518) (Times Cited: 134)

  *：corresponding author.

17. Fanghua Liu, Ralf Conrad. Chemolithotrophic acetogenic H₂/CO₂ utilization in Italian rice field soil. The ISME Journal. 2011, 5: 1526-1539. (Impact Factor=9.664) (Times Cited: 14)

18. Fanghua Liu and Ralf Conrad. Thermoanaerobacteriaceae oxidize acetate in methanogenic rice field soil at 50ºC. Environmental Microbiology. 2010, 12: 2341–2354. (Impact Factor=5.395) (Times Cited: 28)

19. Fanghua Liu*, Sibao Wang*, Jianshe Zhang, Jun Zhang, Xing Yan, Haokui Zhou, Guoping Zhao, Zhihua Zhou. The structure of the bacterial and archaeal community in a biogas digester as revealed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 16S rDNA sequencing analysis. Journal of Applied Microbiology. 2009, 106(3):1022-1032. (Impact Factor=2. 099)

  *：These authors have contributed equally to this work.  (Times Cited: 78)

20. Fanghua Liu, Guofang Lin, Guang Gao, Boqiang Qin, Jianshe Zhang, Guoping Zhao, Zhihua Zhou, Jianhua Shen. Bacterial and archaeal assemblages in sediments of a large shallow freshwater lake, Lake Taihu, as revealed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Journal of Applied Microbiology. 2009, 106(3):952-966. (Impact Factor=2.099)  (Times Cited: 31)

参与研究成果:

1. Lei Chen; Mingpeng Wang; Li Huang; Zhaojie Zhang; Fanghua Liu; Guangtao Lu. XC_0531 encodes a c-type cytochrome biogenesis protein and is required for pathogenesis in Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris. BMC Microbiology 2017, 17 ,142. DOI: 10.1186/s12866-017-1056-9.

2. Lei Chen^#, Mingpeng Wang^#, Jin Hou, Jiafang Fu, Yu Shen, Fanghua Liu, Zhaojie Zhang, Xiaoming Bao*. HAL2 overexpression induces iron acquisition in bdf1Δ cells and enhances their salt resistance. Current Genetics. 2016, 63(2): 229-239.  (Impact Factor=3.385)  ^#：Equally contributed.

3. Leilei Xiao, Bin Lian, Cuiling Dong, Fanghua Liu. The selective expression of carbonic anhydrase genes of Aspergillus nidulans in response to changes in mineral nutrition and CO₂ concentration. MicrobiologyOpen. 2016; 5(1): 60–69. doi: 10.1002/mbo3.311. (Impact Factor=2.747) (Times Cited: 4)

4. Feifei Sun, Xiaoli Zhang, Qianqian Zhang, Fanghua Liu, Jianping Zhang, Jun Gong. Seagrass (Zostera marina) colonization promotes diazotrophic bacteria and alters relative abundance of specific bacterial lineages involved in benthic carbon and sulfur cycling. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2015. doi: 10.1128/AEM.01382-15. (Impact Factor=3.807) (Times Cited: 6)

5. Yongjun Wei, Haokui Zhou, Jun Zhang, Lei Zhang, Alei Geng, Fanghua Liu, Guoping Zhao, Shengyue Wang, Zhihua Zhou, Xing Yan. Insight into dominant cellulolytic bacteria from two biogas digesters and their glycoside hydrolase genes. Plos ONE. 2015, 10(6): e0129921. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0129921 (Impact Factor=2.806) (Times Cited: 4)

6. Pravin Malla Shrestha, Nikhil S. Malvankar, Jeffrey J. Werner , Ashley E. Franks J.J. Werner, A.E. Franks, Amelia-Elena Rotaru, Minita Shrestha, Fanghua Liu, Kelly P. Nevin, Largus T. Angenent, Derek R. Lovley. 2014. Correlation between microbial community and granule conductivity in anaerobic bioreactors for brewery wastewater treatment. Bioresource Technology. 174:306–310. (Impact Factor=5.651) (Times Cited: 24)

7. Shanshan Chen, Amelia-Elena Rotaru, Fanghua Liu, Jo Philips, Trevor L. Woodard, Kelly P. Nevin, Derek R. Lovley. 2014. Carbon cloth stimulates direct interspecies electron transfer in syntrophic co-cultures. Bioresource Technology.  173:82–86. (Impact Factor=5.651) (Times Cited: 52)

8. Amelia-Elena Rotarua, Pravin Malla Shrestha, Fanghua Liu, Beatrice Markovaite,    Shanshan Chen, Kelly Nevin, Derek Lovley. Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer Between Geobacter metallireducens and Methanosarcina barkeri. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2014. 80: 4599–4605. (Impact Factor=3.807) (Times Cited: 107)

9. Shanshan Chen,Amelia-Elena Rotaru,Pravin Malla Shrestha,Nikhil S. Malvankar, Fanghua Liu,Wei Fan, Kelly P. Nevin, Derek R. Lovley. Promoting interspecies electron transfer with biochar. Scientific Reports. 2014. 4, 5019. oi:10.1038/srep05019. (Impact Factor=4.259) (Times Cited: 69)

10. Amelia-Elena Rotaru, Pravin M. Shrestha, Fanghua Liu, Minita Shrestha, Devesh Shrestha, Mallory Embree, Karsten Zengler, Colin Wardman, Kelly P. Nevin, Derek R. Lovley. A new model for electron flow during anaerobic digestion: direct interspecies electron transfer to Methanosaeta for the reduction of carbon dioxide to methane. Energy & Environmental Science. 2014, 7: 408-415. (Impact Factor=29.518) (Times Cited: 167)

11. Pravin M. Shrestha, Amelia-Elena Rotaru, Muktak Aklujkar, Fanghua Liu, Minita Shrestha, Zarath M. Summers, Nikhil Malvankar, Dan Carlo Flores, Derek R. Lovley. Syntrophic growth with direct interspecies electron transfer as the primary mechanism for energy exchange. Environmental Microbiology Reports, 2013, 5(6), 904-910. (Impact Factor=3.363) (Times Cited: 36)

12. Pravin M. Shrestha, Amelia-Elena Rotaru, Zarath M. Summers, Minita Shrestha, Fanghua Liu, and Derek R. Lovley. Transcriptomic and genetic analysis of direct interspecies electron transfer. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2013.79: 2397-2404. (Impact Factor=3.807) (Times Cited: 43)

13. Amelia-Elena Rotaru, Pravin M. Shrestha, Fanghua Liu, Toshiyuki Ueki, Zarath M. Summers and Derek R. Lovley. Interspecies electron transfer via H₂ and formate rather than direct electrical connections in co-cultures of Pelobacter carbinolicus and Geobacter sulfurreducens. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2012, 78:7645-7651. (Impact Factor=3.807) (Times Cited: 35)

14. Alei Geng, Gen Zou, Xing Yan, Qianfu Wang, Jun Zhang, Fanghua Liu, Baoli Zhu and Zhihua Zhou. Expression and characterization of a novel metagenome-derived cellulase Exo2b and its application to improve cellulase activity in Trichoderma reesei. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2012, 96: 951-962. (Impact Factor=3.42) (Times Cited: 23)

15. Yongzhen Tao, Yanling He, Yongqiang Wu, Fanghua Liu, Xinfeng Li, Wenming Zong, Zhihua Zhou.Characteristics of a new photosynthetic bacterial strain for hydrogen production and its application in wastewater treatment. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 2008, 33(3):963-937. (Impact Factor=3.582) (Times Cited: 98)

16. Rong Xie, Zhishui He, Fanghua Liu, Huasong Zou, Jiabi Zhu, Guanqiao Yu. Identification of genes induced during Medicago sativa nodule development by using the cDNA-AFLP technique. Chinese Science Bulletin. 2006, 51(17):2087-2094. (Impact Factor=1.649) (Times Cited: 2)

17.罗利, 刘芳华, 朱家壁, 俞冠翘.苜蓿中华根瘤菌(Sinorhizobium meliloti) LuxR家族转录因子ExpR调节motC操纵子的表达. 《微生物学报》.2006, 46 (3):474-477. (Times Cited: 1)

1.Direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) from Clostridium spp. to Methanosarcina barkeri in a methanogenic isolation by authors. 2016-08. Fanghua Liu*, Ying Li, Shiling Zheng, Oumei Wang.16th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology.

2. Co-occurrence of Methanosarcina mazei and Geobacteraceae in an iron (III-reducing) enrichment culture.  2016-08. Shiling Zheng, Hongxia Zhang, Ying Li, Hua Zhang, Oumei Wang, Jun Zhang, Fanghua Liu*. 16th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology.

3. Potential Direct interspeices electron transfer (DIET) from Clostridium spp. to Methanosarcina barkeri in a methanogenic isolation. 2016-07. .Fanghua Liu*.Ying Li, ShiLing Zheng, Hongxia Zhang, Bingchen Wang, Oumei Wang.Gordon Research Conferences.

4. Fanghua Liu. Direct Microbial Interspecies Electron Transfer in Methanogenic Systems. 2015-10. Annual Meeting of Chinese Society for Microbiology.

5. Co-occurrence of Methanosarcina mazei and Geobacteraceae in an iron(III)-reducing enrichment culture. 2015-09. Fanghua Liu. International Workshop on Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone and Sustainable Development.

6. Direct Microbial Interspecies Electron Transfer in Methanogenic Systems. 2015-08. Fanghua Liu. Workshop of Bohai Rim Regional Society for Microbiology.

7. Microbial interspecies electron transfer mechanisms in anoxic soil and sediments. 2015-06. Fanghua Liu. Annual Meeting of International Professionals for the Advancement of Chinese Earth Sciences. .

8. Mechanisms of microbial extracellular electron transfer (MEET) in anoxic soil and sediments. 2015-03. Fanghua Liu. Workshop of US-China Collaborative Research on Microbe-Mineral Interaction: Microbial Extracellular Electron Transfer with Minerals as Electron Sources and Sinks.

9. Microbial extracellular electron transfer (MEET) in anoxic sediments. 2014-09. Fanghua Liu. The 1st international coastal biology congress (ICBC).

10. Magnetite Substitutes for C-Type Cytochrome in Extracellular Fe(III) Oxide Reduction and Interspecies Electron Exchange. 2014-08. Fanghua Liu, Amelia Elena Rotaru, Pravin Malla Shrestha, Nikhil S. Malvankar, Kelly P. Nevin and Derek R. Lovely. The 15th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology.

11.  Magnetite Substitutes for C-Type Cytochrome in Extracellular Fe(III) Oxide Reduction and Interspecies Electron Exchange. 2013-10. Fanghua Liu, Amelia-Elena Rotaru, Pravin Malla Shrestha, Nikhil S. Malvankar, Kelly P. Nevin and Derek R. Lovley. The 21st International Symposium on Environmental Biogeochemistry.

12. Activated carbon functions as an electron shuttle to stimulate syntrophic anaerobic microbial respiration，2012-06，Fanghua Liu*, Amelia-Elena Rotaru, Pravin Malla Shrestha, Nikhil S. Malvankar, Kelly P. Nevin and Derek R. Lovley.

13.Thermophilic acetate-utilizing Bacteria and Archaea in methanogenic rice field soil revealed by stable isotope probing of rRNA and DNA.2010-08. Fanghua Liu*, Ralf Conrad.

14. Analysis on the bacterial and archaeal communities of the sediments with different trophic levels in Lake Taihu. 2008-11.Fanghua Liu, Guofang Lin, Guang Gao, Boqiang Qin, Jianshe Zhang, Guoping Zhao, Zhihua Zhou, Jianhua Shen. The 11th National Symposium on Environmental Microbiology.

15. Preliminary results on the bacterial and archaeal communities of the sediments with different trophic levels in Lake Taihu.2008-03.Fanghua Liu, Guofang Lin, Guang Gao, Boqiang Qin, Jianshe Zhang, Guoping Zhao, Zhihua Zhou, Jianhua Shen. The 113th Eastern Forum of Science and Technology.

16. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) revealed the microbial community in a biogas digester fermented with rice straw.2006-08.Fanghua Liu, Sibao Wang, Jianshe Zhang, Jun Zhang, Guoping Zhao, Zhihua Zhou.  The 9th National Symposium on Environmental Microbiology.