Biography

Xianhui Liu earned his PhD degree in Entomology from University of California-Davis in 2020. Then she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the same university from 2020 to 2024. In 2024, She joined Soochow University as an associate professor.

Research Interests

The circadian clock is a fundamental biological system that synchronizes behavioral and physiological processes such as metabolism and immunity with the 24-hour day-night cycle. Disruption of circadian rhythms, often caused by modern lifestyle factors like shift work and jet lag, is closely associated with metabolic and mental disorders. My research focuses on the key scientific question of how organisms regulate their circadian rhythms. I explore the molecular mechanisms by which diet/nutrients influence physiological rhythms through post-translational modifications (PTMs). Using a combination of biochemical, molecular genetics, and proteomic approaches, we investigate how protein phosphorylation, O-GlcNAcylation and S-palmitoylation, and other PTMs regulates circadian clock and physiological rhythms.

Selected Publications 

1. Liu X.*, Cai Y.D.*, Hou C., Liu X., Luo Y., Mendiola A.J.P., Xu X., Luo Y., Zheng H., Zhao C., Chen C.-H., Zhang Y., Xiang Y.K., Ma J., Chiu J.C. (2025) O-GlcNAcylation of nuclear proteins in the mouse liver exhibit daily oscillations that are influenced by meal timing. PLoS Biol., 23(9):e3003400.

2. Cai Y.D.*, Liu X.*, Chow G.K., Hidalgo S., Jackson K.C., Vasquez C.D., Gao Z.Y., Lam V.H., Tabuloc C.A., Zheng H., Zhao C., Chiu J.C. (2024) Alternative splicing of Clock transcript mediates the response of circadian clocks to temperature changes. PNAS, 121(50):e2410680121.

3. Liu X*, Cai Y.D.*, Chiu J.C. (2023) Metabolic and non-metabolic regulation of protein O-GlcNAcylation. J. Biol. Chem., 12(9):220215.

4. Liu X., Chiu J.C. (2022) Nutrient-sensitive protein O-GlcNAcylation shapes daily biological rhythms. Open Biol., 12(9):220215.

5. Liu X., Blaženović I., Contreras A.J., Pham T.M., Tabuloc C.A., Li Y.H., Ji J., Fiehn O., Chiu J.C. (2021) Hexosamine biosynthetic pathway and O-GlcNAc-processing enzymes regulate daily rhythms in protein O-GlcNAcylation. Nat. Commun., 12(1): 4173.

6. Li Y.H., Liu X., Vanselow J.T., Zheng H., Schlosser A., Chiu J.C. (2019) O-GlcNAcylation of PERIOD regulates its interaction with CLOCK and timing of circadian transcriptional repression. PLoS Genet., 15(1): e1007953.

7. Lam V.H., Li Y.H., Liu X., Murphy K.A., Diehl J.S., Kwok R.S., Chiu J.C. (2018) CK1α collaborates with DOUBLETIME to regulate PERIOD function in the Drosophila circadian clock. J. Neurosci., 38 (50): 10631-10643.