CAS Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics

SHENG Nengyin

2018-10-24 | | 【Print】

From 2011 to 2017, he was a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Roger Nicoll’s lab at University of California, San Francisco.He joined in Kunming Institute of Zoology in August 2017 as Principal Investigator and the Head of the Laboratory of Neural Synaptic Mechanism and Function.His major research interests are the roles and functional mechanisms of synapses during physiological and pathological conditions of our brain.

Research Interest

Synapses are the primary functional units for neuronal communication in the brain and many neurodegeneration and neurological diseases are ultimately attributed to their malfunction or pathology. The long-term goal of my lab is to study the roles and functional mechanisms of synapse during physiological and pathological conditions of our brain, combing the electrophysiological method with novel molecular and genetic tools and biochemical, molecular, developmental biological approaches. The current research interests are as following: (1) The molecular mechanisms of synaptic regulation during physiological and pathological processes; (2) The genetic and molecular bases for the synapses evolution and the specificity of synaptic transmission of primate animals; (3) The internal relationship and molecular mechanisms between the neural circuit evolution of human brain and neural mental diseases.

Selceted Publications

1. Sheng N*, Bemben MA, Díaz-Alonso J, Tao W, Shi YS, Nicoll RA*. 2018. LTP requires postsynaptic PDZ-domain interactions with glutamate receptor/auxiliary protein complexes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(15), 3948-3953.

2. Tao W, Díaz-Alonso J, Sheng N, Roger A. Nicoll. 2018. Postsynaptic δ1 glutamate receptor assembles and maintains hippocampal synapses via Cbln2 and neurexin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(23), E5373-E5381.

3. Sheng N, Shi YS, Nicoll RA. 2017. Amino-terminal domains of kainate receptors determine the differential dependence on Neto auxiliary subunits for trafficking. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(5), 1159-1164.

4. Sheng N, Yang J, Silm K, Edwards RH, Nicoll RA. 2017. A slow excitatory postsynaptic current mediated by a novel metabotropic glutamate receptor in CA1 pyramidal neurons. Neuropharmacology, 115, 4-9.

5. Lomash RM, Sheng N, Li Y, Nicoll RA, Roche KW. 2017. Phosphorylation of the kainate receptor (KAR) auxiliary subunit Neto2 at Serine 409 regulates synaptic targeting of the KAR subunit GluK1. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 292(37), 15369-15377.

6. Sheng N, Shi YS, Lomash RM, Roche KW, Nicoll RA. 2015. Neto auxiliary proteins control both the trafficking and biophysical properties of the kainate receptor GluK1. Elife, 3, e11682.

7. Yue W, Li Y, Zhang T, Jiang M, Qian Y, Zhang M, Sheng N, Feng S, Tang K, Yu X, Shu Y, Yue C, Jing N. 2015. ESC-Derived Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Neurons Ameliorate the Cognitive Symptoms Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease in Mouse Models. Stem Cell Reports, 5(5), 776-90.

8. Zhu Q, Song L, Peng G, Sun N, Chen J, Zhang T, Sheng N, Tang W, Qian C, Qiao Y, Tang K, Han JD, Li J, Jing N. 2014. The transcription factor Pou3f1 promotes neural fate commitment via activation of neural lineage genes and inhibition of external signaling pathways. Elife, 3, e02224.

9. Fu Y, Tucciarone JM, Espinosa JS, Sheng N, Darcy DP, Nicoll RA, Huang ZJ, Stryker MP. 2014. A cortical circuit for gain control by behavioral state. Cell, 156(6), 1139-1152.

10. Qiao Y, Zhu Y, Sheng N, Chen J, Tao R, Zhu Q, Zhang T, Qian C, Jing N. 2012. AP2γ regulates neural and epidermal development downstream of the BMP pathway at early stages of ectodermal patterning. Cell Research, 22(11), 1546–1561.

11. Sheng N, Xie Z, Wang C, Bai G, Zhang K, Zhu Q, Song J, Guillemot F, Chen YG, Lin A, Jing N. 2010. Retinoic acid regulates bone morphogenic protein signal duration by promoting the degradation of phosphorylated Smad1. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(44), 18886-18891.

12. Hu Z, Wang C, Xiao Y, Sheng N, Chen Y, Xu Y, Zhang L, Mo W, Jing N, Hu G. 2009. NDST1-dependent heparan sulfate regulates BMP signaling and internalization in lung development. Journal of Cell Science, 122(Pt 8), 1145-1154.

13. Bai G, Sheng N, Xie Z, Bian W, Yokota Y, Benezra R, Kageyama R, Guillemot F, Jing N. 2007. Id sustains Hes1 expression to inhibit precocious neurogenesis by releasing negative autoregulation of Hes1. Developmental Cell, 13(2), 283-297.