Biological membranes adopt different shapes, many of which are conserved amongst eukaryotes. The morphological dynamics of the lipid bilayer have been shown to play important roles in many cellular processes, be it organelle biogenesis, endocytosis, or vesicular trafficking, and defects have been linked to many diseases. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is an organelle with extensive and continuous membrane network. How morphologically different ER domains are formed is not clear. Investigations of ER shaping and remodeling have led to the discovery of two groups of membrane proteins: the reticulons and DP1/Yop1p, proteins that are both necessary and sufficient for the generation of ER tubules; and a class of membrane-bound, dynamin-like GTPases, called atlastins, which appear to have a role in the fusion of ER membranes. Our recent structural and biochemical studies of atlastin provided first insight into the mechanism underlying ER fusion. We aim to use combined approaches to further investigate the mechanism and regulation of the tubular ER network formation. We are also interested in the functional significance of different ER morphologies, and their implication in various human diseases.

2001 -- 2005  New York University School of Medicine  Ph.D.
1996 -- 2006  Fudan University  B.S. 

2015 -- present   University of Chinese Academy of Sciences   Professor
2013 -- present   Institute of Biophysics, CAS   Principal Investigator
2008 -- 2012       College  of Life Sciences, Nankai University  Professor
2005 -- 2008       Harvard Medical School  Post doctor

2021

FIT2 organizes lipid droplet biogenesis with ER tubule-forming proteins and septins.

Chen F, Yan B, Ren J, Lyu R, Wu Y, Guo Y, Li D, Zhang H, Hu J.

J Cell Biol. 2021 May 3;220(5):e201907183.

PMID: 33861319

 

Endoplasmic reticulum composition and form: Proteins in and out.

Sun S, Tang X, Guo Y, Hu J.

Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2021 Feb 18;71:1-6.

PMID: 33611096 Review.

 

2020

Structural analysis of a trimeric assembly of the mitochondrial dynamin-like GTPase Mgm1.

Yan L, Qi Y, Ricketson D, Li L, Subramanian K, Zhao J, Yu C, Wu L, Sarsam R, Wong M, Lou Z, Rao Z, Nunnari J, Hu J.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Feb 25;117(8):4061-4070.

PMID: 32041880

 

STIM1 interacts with termini of Orai channels in a sequential manner.

Niu L, Wu F, Li K, Li J, Zhang SL, Hu J, Wang Q.

J Cell Sci. 2020 Feb 27:jcs.239491.

PMID: 32107289

 

Structural insights into G domain dimerization and pathogenic mutation of OPA1.

Yu C, Zhao J, Yan L, Qi Y, Guo X, Lou Z, Hu J, Rao Z.

J Cell Biol. 2020 Jul 6;219(7):e201907098.

PMID: 32379273

 

A Plasmodium homolog of ER tubule-forming proteins is required for parasite virulence.

Shi X, Hai L, Govindasamy K, Gao J, Coppens I, Hu J, Wang Q, Bhanot P.

Mol Microbiol. 2020 May 20.

PMID: 32432369

 

Self-Association of Purified Reconstituted ER Luminal Spacer Climp63

Zhao J and Hu J.

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020 June 16.

PMID: 32612999

 

“At last in” the physiological roles of the tubular ER network

Lv L, Niu L, Hu J.

Biophys Rep. 2020;6(4): 105-114.

Review.

 

Mitochondrial Fusion: The Machineries In and Out.

Gao S, Hu J.

Trends Cell Biol. 2021 Jan;31(1):62-74.

PMID: 33092941 Review.

 

2019

Atlastin-1 regulates morphology and function of endoplasmic reticulum in dendrites.

Liu X, Guo X, Niu L, Li X, Sun F, Hu J, Wang X, Shen K.

Nat Commun. 2019 Feb 4;10(1):568.

PMID: 30718476

 

Atlastin-mediated membrane tethering is critical for cargo mobility and exit from the endoplasmic reticulum.

Niu L, Ma T, Yang F, Yan B, Tang X, Yin H, Wu Q, Huang Y, Yao ZP, Wang J, Guo Y, Hu J.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Jul 9;116(28):14029-14038.

PMID: 31239341

 

Structural insights of human mitofusin-2 into mitochondrial fusion and CMT2A onset.

Li YJ, Cao YL, Feng JX, Qi Y, Meng S, Yang JF, Zhong YT, Kang S, Chen X, Lan L, Luo L, Yu B, Chen S, Chan DC, Hu J, Gao S.

Nat Commun. 2019 Oct 29;10(1):4914.

PMID: 31664033

 

Mycobacterial dynamin-like protein IniA mediates membrane fission.

Wang M, Guo X, Yang X, Zhang B, Ren J, Liu A, Ran Y, Yan B, Chen F, Guddat LW, Hu J, Li J, Rao Z.

Nat Commun. 2019 Aug 29;10(1):3906.

PMID: 31467269

 

Reciprocal regulation between lunapark and atlastin facilitates ER three-way junction formation.

Zhou X, He Y, Huang X, Guo Y, Li D, Hu J.

Protein Cell. 2019 Jul;10(7):510-525.

PMID: 30498943

 

Calumenin-1 Interacts with Climp63 to Cooperatively Determine the Luminal Width and Distribution of Endoplasmic Reticulum Sheets.

Shen B, Zheng P, Qian N, Chen Q, Zhou X, Hu J, Chen J, Teng J.

iScience. 2019 Dec 20;22:70-80.

PMID: 31751826

 

2018

Visualizing Intracellular Organelle and Cytoskeletal Interactions at Nanoscale Resolution on Millisecond Timescales.

Guo Y, Li D, Zhang S, Yang Y, Liu JJ, Wang X, Liu C, Milkie DE, Moore RP, Tulu US, Kiehart DP, Hu J, Lippincott-Schwartz J, Betzig E, Li D.

Cell. 2018 Nov 15;175(5):1430-1442.e17.

PMID: 30454650

 

LEM4 confers tamoxifen resistance to breast cancer cells by activating cyclin D-CDK4/6-Rb and ERα pathway.

Gao A, Sun T, Ma G, Cao J, Hu Q, Chen L, Wang Y, Wang Q, Sun J, Wu R, Wu Q, Zhou J, Liu L, Hu J, Dong JT, Zhu Z.

Nat Commun. 2018 Oct 9;9(1):4180.

PMID: 30301939

 

DNA damage triggers tubular endoplasmic reticulum extension to promote apoptosis by facilitating ER-mitochondria signaling.

Zheng P, Chen Q, Tian X, Qian N, Chai P, Liu B, Hu J, Blackstone C, Zhu D, Teng J, Chen J.

Cell Res. 2018 Aug;28(8):833-854.

PMID: 30030520

 

Structural basis for GTP hydrolysis and conformational change of MFN1 in mediating membrane fusion.

Yan L, Qi Y, Huang X, Yu C, Lan L, Guo X, Rao Z, Hu J, Lou Z.

Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2018 Mar;25(3):233-243.

PMID: 29483649

 

Transmembrane E3 ligase RNF183 mediates ER stress-induced apoptosis by degrading Bcl-xL.

Wu Y, Li X, Jia J, Zhang Y, Li J, Zhu Z, Wang H, Tang J, Hu J.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Mar 20;115(12):E2762-E2771.

PMID: 29507230

 

Structural basis for neutralization of Japanese encephalitis virus by two potent therapeutic antibodies.

Qiu X, Lei Y, Yang P, Gao Q, Wang N, Cao L, Yuan S, Huang X, Deng Y, Ma W, Ding T, Zhang F, Wu X, Hu J, Liu SL, Qin C, Wang X, Xu Z, Rao Z.

Nat Microbiol. 2018 Mar;3(3):287-294.

PMID: 29379207

 

Sec61β facilitates the maintenance of endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis by associating microtubules.

Zhu Y, Zhang G, Lin S, Shi J, Zhang H, Hu J.

Protein Cell. 2018 Jul;9(7):616-628.

PMID: 29168059

 

2017

Sequences flanking the transmembrane segments facilitate mitochondrial localization and membrane fusion by mitofusin.

Huang X, Zhou X, Hu X, Joshi AS, Guo X, Zhu Y, Chen Q, Prinz WA, Hu J.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Nov 14;114(46):E9863-E9872.

PMID: 29093165

 

Quantitative proteomics reveal proteins enriched in tubular endoplasmic reticulum of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Wang X, Li S, Wang H, Shui W, Hu J.

Elife. 2017 Mar 13;6:e23816.

PMID: 28287394

 

Atlastin regulates store-operated calcium entry for nerve growth factor-induced neurite outgrowth.

Li J, Yan B, Si H, Peng X, Zhang SL, Hu J.

Sci Rep. 2017 Feb 27;7:43490.

PMID: 28240257

 

2016

The Vici Syndrome Protein EPG5 Is a Rab7 Effector that Determines the Fusion Specificity of Autophagosomes with Late Endosomes/Lysosomes.

Wang Z, Miao G, Xue X, Guo X, Yuan C, Wang Z, Zhang G, Chen Y, Feng D, Hu J, Zhang H.

Mol Cell. 2016 Sep 1;63(5):781-95.

PMID: 27588602

 

Fusion of the endoplasmic reticulum by membrane-bound GTPases.

Hu J, Rapoport TA.

Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2016 Dec;60:105-111.

PMID: 27269373 Review.

 

Shaping the Endoplasmic Reticulum into a Social Network.

Zhang H, Hu J.

Trends Cell Biol. 2016 Dec;26(12):934-943.

PMID: 27339937 Review.

 

Identification of endoplasmic reticulum-shaping proteins in Plasmodium parasites.

Sun S, Lv L, Yao Z, Bhanot P, Hu J, Wang Q.

Protein Cell. 2016 Aug;7(8):615-20.

PMID: 27484902

 

A Comprehensive Analysis of Plasmodium Circumsporozoite Protein Binding to Hepatocytes.

Zhao J, Bhanot P, Hu J, Wang Q.

PLoS One. 2016 Aug 25;11(8):e0161607.

PMID: 27560376

 

A family of membrane-shaping proteins at ER subdomains regulates pre-peroxisomal vesicle biogenesis.

Joshi AS, Huang X, Choudhary V, Levine TP, Hu J, Prinz WA.

J Cell Biol. 2016 Nov 21;215(4):515-529.

PMID: 27872254

 

Structures of human mitofusin 1 provide insight into mitochondrial tethering.

Qi Y, Yan L, Yu C, Guo X, Zhou X, Hu X, Huang X, Rao Z, Lou Z, Hu J.

J Cell Biol. 2016 Dec 5;215(5):621-629.

PMID: 27920125

 

2015

Junjie Hu: Shape-shifting in the endoplasmic reticulum.

Hu J, Powell K.

J Cell Biol. 2015 Jun 8;209(5):626-7.

PMID: 26056135

 

Human atlastin GTPases mediate differentiated fusion of endoplasmic reticulum membranes.

Hu X, Wu F, Sun S, Yu W, Hu J.

Protein Cell. 2015 Apr;6(4):307-311.

PMID: 25773277

 

Cis and trans interactions between atlastin molecules during membrane fusion.

Liu TY, Bian X, Romano FB, Shemesh T, Rapoport TA, Hu J.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Apr 14;112(15):E1851-60.

PMID: 25825753

 

Comparison of human and Drosophila atlastin GTPases.

Wu F, Hu X, Bian X, Liu X, Hu J.

Protein Cell. 2015 Feb;6(2):139-46.

PMID: 25407413

 

Structural Basis of the Differential Function of the Two C. elegans Atg8 Homologs, LGG-1 and LGG-2, in Autophagy.

Wu F, Watanabe Y, Guo XY, Qi X, Wang P, Zhao HY, Wang Z, Fujioka Y, Zhang H, Ren JQ, Fang TC, Shen YX, Feng W, Hu J, Noda NN, Zhang H.

Mol Cell. 2015 Dec 17;60(6):914-29.

PMID: 26687600

 

Structures of the yeast dynamin-like GTPase Sey1p provide insight into homotypic ER fusion.

Yan L, Sun S, Wang W, Shi J, Hu X, Wang S, Su D, Rao Z, Hu J, Lou Z.

J Cell Biol. 2015 Sep 14;210(6):961-72.

PMID: 26370501

 

2013

Homotypic fusion of endoplasmic reticulum membranes in plant cells.

Zhang M, Hu J.

Front Plant Sci. 2013 Dec 18;4:514.

PMID: 24385977 Review.

 

Structural insight into Golgi membrane stacking by GRASP65 and GRASP55 proteins.

Feng Y, Yu W, Li X, Lin S, Zhou Y, Hu J, Liu X.

J Biol Chem. 2013 Sep 27;288(39):28418-27.

PMID: 23940043

 

ROOT HAIR DEFECTIVE3 family of dynamin-like GTPases mediates homotypic endoplasmic reticulum fusion and is essential for Arabidopsis development.

Zhang M, Wu F, Shi J, Zhu Y, Zhu Z, Gong Q, Hu J.

Plant Physiol. 2013 Oct;163(2):713-20.

PMID: 23922269

 

Differential roles of the C and N termini of Orai1 protein in interacting with stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) for Ca²⁺ release-activated Ca²⁺ (CRAC) channel activation.

Zheng H, Zhou MH, Hu C, Kuo E, Peng X, Hu J, Kuo L, Zhang SL.

J Biol Chem. 2013 Apr 19;288(16):11263-72.

PMID: 23447534

 

2012

Molecular basis for sculpting the endoplasmic reticulum membrane.

Lin S, Sun S, Hu J.

Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2012 Sep;44(9):1436-43.

PMID: 22640864 Review.

 

Lipid interaction of the C terminus and association of the transmembrane segments facilitate atlastin-mediated homotypic endoplasmic reticulum fusion.

Liu TY, Bian X, Sun S, Hu X, Klemm RW, Prinz WA, Rapoport TA, Hu J.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Aug 7;109(32):E2146-54.

PMID: 22802620

 

The dynamin-like GTPase Sey1p mediates homotypic ER fusion in S. cerevisiae.

Anwar K, Klemm RW, Condon A, Severin KN, Zhang M, Ghirlando R, Hu J, Rapoport TA, Prinz WA.

J Cell Biol. 2012 Apr 16;197(2):209-17.

PMID: 22508509

 

2011

Weaving the web of ER tubules.

Hu J, Prinz WA, Rapoport TA.

Cell. 2011 Dec 9;147(6):1226-31.

PMID: 22153070 Review.

 

Structures of the atlastin GTPase provide insight into homotypic fusion of endoplasmic reticulum membranes.

Bian X, Klemm RW, Liu TY, Zhang M, Sun S, Sui X, Liu X, Rapoport TA, Hu J.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Mar 8;108(10):3976-81.

PMID: 21368113

 

Mutations in Orai1 transmembrane segment 1 cause STIM1-independent activation of Orai1 channels at glycine 98 and channel closure at arginine 91.

Zhang SL, Yeromin AV, Hu J, Amcheslavsky A, Zheng H, Cahalan MD.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Oct 25;108(43):17838-43.

PMID: 21987804

 

2009

Mechanisms shaping the membranes of cellular organelles.

Shibata Y, Hu J, Kozlov MM, Rapoport TA.

Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2009;25:329-54.

PMID: 19575675

 

A class of dynamin-like GTPases involved in the generation of the tubular ER network.

Hu J, Shibata Y, Zhu PP, Voss C, Rismanchi N, Prinz WA, Rapoport TA, Blackstone C.

Cell. 2009 Aug 7;138(3):549-61.

PMID: 19665976

 

2008

The reticulon and DP1/Yop1p proteins form immobile oligomers in the tubular endoplasmic reticulum.

Shibata Y, Voss C, Rist JM, Hu J, Rapoport TA, Prinz WA, Voeltz GK.

J Biol Chem. 2008 Jul 4;283(27):18892-904.

PMID: 18442980

 

Membrane proteins of the endoplasmic reticulum induce high-curvature tubules.

Hu J, Shibata Y, Voss C, Shemesh T, Li Z, Coughlin M, Kozlov MM, Rapoport TA, Prinz WA.

Science. 2008 Feb 29;319(5867):1247-50.

PMID: 18309084

 

2006

Structural basis for phosphotyrosine recognition by the Src homology-2 domains of the adapter proteins SH2-B and APS.

Hu J, Hubbard SR.

J Mol Biol. 2006 Aug 4;361(1):69-79.

PMID: 16824542

 

Activation-dependent substrate recruitment by the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 kinase PERK.

Marciniak SJ, Garcia-Bonilla L, Hu J, Harding HP, Ron D.

J Cell Biol. 2006 Jan 16;172(2):201-9.

PMID: 16418533

 

2005

Structural characterization of a novel Cbl phosphotyrosine recognition motif in the APS family of adapter proteins.

Hu J, Hubbard SR.

J Biol Chem. 2005 May 13;280(19):18943-9.

PMID: 15737992

 

Structural basis for inhibition of the insulin receptor by the adaptor protein Grb14.

Depetris RS, Hu J, Gimpelevich I, Holt LJ, Daly RJ, Hubbard SR.

Mol Cell. 2005 Oct 28;20(2):325-33.

PMID: 16246733

 

2003

Structural basis for recruitment of the adaptor protein APS to the activated insulin receptor.

Hu J, Liu J, Ghirlando R, Saltiel AR, Hubbard SR.

Mol Cell. 2003 Dec;12(6):1379-89.

PMID: 14690593

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