Name: Niu, Ben
Degree: Ph.D. of Science in Agriculture
Title: Professor
E-mail:ben_niu@nefu.edu.cnorniuben2004@126.com
Address:Room West 303, Building Science and Technology, 51 Hexinglu Street, Xiangfang District, Harbin, 150040, China
Education and Training:
2001 – 2005: China Agricultural University, Bachelor of Science in Agriculture
2005 – 2011: China Agricultural University, Ph.D. of Science in Agriculture
2008 – 2010: Humbodlt University, visiting Ph.D. student
2012 – 2017: Harvard University, Postdoctoral Training in Microbiology
Employment:
2011 – 2012: China Agricultural University, Department of Plant Pathology, Research Assistant
2017 – Now: Northeast Forestry University, College of Life Sciences / State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Professor (Young PI)
Research Specialty:
Plant-Microbe Interaction, Microbial Ecology and Biochemistry, Biological Control of Plant Disease
Courses to Teach:
Microbiology (international students)
Plant Pathology and Symbiosis
English for Science and Technology
Research Interest:
Plants grow, die, and, importantly, evolve surrounded by myriad microbes.The plant-associated microbes are important to the growth and health of their hosts. The research of my lab focuses on the interactions between microbes and plants. We are interested in: 1). Investigating the compositions of plant microbiome and their dynamics in both forest and agriculture ecosystems; 2). Defining experimentally the mechanisms underlying dynamics of the plant microbiota assembly and the biological functions of such microbial communities by using synthetic microbial consortia assembled on plant hosts under controlled conditions of laboratory; 3). Searching for individual beneficial microbes from plant microbiomes and studying the mechanisms of their protective and plant growth-promoting effects on hosts, for the sake of providing potential eco-friendly solutions to improve plant health and yields.
Funding:
1. National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071741) (P.I.) 01/2021-12/2024
2. National Natural Science Foundation of China (31801785) (P.I.) 01/2019-12/2021
3. Heilongjiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (YQ2019C002) (P.I.) 07/2019-07/2022
4.The Innovation Project of State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding (2019A01) (P.I.) 10/2019-09/2023
5. Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2572018BD05) (P.I) 05/2018-04/2021
6. Start-up Scientific Foundation of Northeast Forestry University (JQ2017-02) (P.I.) 09/2017 -09/2021
Publications:
Yu Zhao, Zhibo Yuan, Shuang Wang, Haoyu Wang, Yanjie Chao, Ronald R. Sederoff, Heike Sederoff, He Yan, Jialiang Pan, Mu Peng, Di Wu, Rainer Borriss#andBen Niu#.Gene sdaB Is Involved in the Nematocidal Activity of Enterobacter ludwigii AA4 Against the Pine Wood Nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. (2022)Frontiers in Microbiology. 13: 870519. (#Corresponding author)
http://doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.870519
Xi Shen, Bingxin Wang, Nianda Yang, Lulu Zhang, Danyu Shen, Huijun Wu, Ying Dong,Ben Niu, Shan-Ho Chou, Gerardo Puopolo, Jiaqin Fan and Guoliang Qian.Lysobacter enzymogenes antagonizes soilborne bacteria using the type IV secretionsystem. (2021)Environmental Microbiology. 23(8): 4673-4688.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15662
Ben Niu#, Weixiong Wang, Zhibo Yuan, Ronald R. Sederoff, Heike Sederoff, Vincent L. Chiang and Rainer Borriss#.Microbial interactions within multiple-strain biological control agents impact soil-borne plant disease. (2020)Frontiers in Microbiology. 11: 585404. (#Corresponding author)
http://doi.3389/fmicb.2020.585404
Pengchao Wang andBen Niu#.Plant specialized metabolites modulate root microbiomes. (2019)Science China Life Sciences. 62(8): 1111-1113. (#Corresponding author)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-019-9579-6
Ben Niu#and Roberto Kolter.Quantification of the Composition Dynamics of a Maize Root-associated Simplified Bacterial Community and Evaluation of Its Biological Control Effect. (2018)Bio-protocol. 8(12): 2885. (#Corresponding author)
https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.2885
Ben Niu, Joseph Nathaniel Paulson, Xiaoqi Zheng, and Roberto Kolter.A model bacterial community of maize roots. (2017)Phytopathology. 107(12): 7.
Ben Niuand Roberto Kolter.Complete Genome Sequences of Seven Strains Composing a Model Bacterial Community of Maize Roots.(2017)Genome Announcements. 5(36):e00997-17.
https://doi.org/10.1128/genomeA.00997-17
Ben Niu, Joseph Nathaniel Paulson, Xiaoqi Zheng, and Roberto Kolter.Simplified and Representative Bacterial Community of Maize Roots. (2017)Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 114(12):E2450-E2459.
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1616148114
Haixia Ding*,Ben Niu*, Haiyan Fan, Yan Li, Qi Wang.Draft Genome
Sequence of Bacillus cereus 905, a plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacterium of Wheat. (2016)Genome Announcements. 4(3):e00489-16. (*Co-first author)
https://doi.org/10.1128/genomeA.00489-16
Yanpo Yao, Yan Li, Zhiqun Chen, Baiqin Zheng, Litian Zhang,Ben Niu, Junli Meng, Aijun Li, Jianmin Zhang and Qi Wang.Biological Control of Potato Late Blight Using Isolates of Trichoderma. (2015)American Journal of Potato Research. 93(1):33-42.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-015-9475-3
Joachim Vater,Ben Niu, Kristin Dietel, Rainer Borriss.Characterization of Novel Fusaricidins Produced by Paenibacillus polymyxa-M1 Using MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry. (2015)Journal of The American Society for Mass Spectrometry. 26(9):1548-1558.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13361-015-1130-1
Ben Niu, Joachim Vater, Christian Rueckert, Jochen Blom, Maik Lehmann, Jin-Jiang Ru, Xiao-Hua Chen, Qi Wang and Rainer Borriss.Polymyxin P is the active principle in suppressing phytopathogenic Erwinia spp. by the biocontrol rhizobacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa M-1. (2013)BMC Microbiology. 13: 137.
http://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2180-13-137
Jochen Blom, Christian Rueckert,Ben Niu, Qi Wang and Rainer Borriss.The Complete Genome of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. plantarum CAU B946 Contains a Gene cluster for Nonribosomal Synthesis of Iturin A. (2012)Journal of Bacteriology. 194(7):1845-1846.
https://doi.org/doi:10.1128/JB.06762-11
Ben Niu,Christian Rueckert,Jochen Blom, Qi Wang and Rainer Borriss.The Genome of the Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa M-1 Contains Nine Sites Dedicated to Nonribosomal Synthesis of Lipopeptides and Polyketides. (2011)Journal of Bacteriology. 193(20):5862-5863.
https://doi.org/doi:10.1128/JB.05806-11
Wukun Liu, Kerstin Bensdorf, Adelheid Hagenbach, Ulrich Abram,Ben Niu,Aruljothi Mariappan, Ronald Gust.Synthesis and biological studies of silver N-heterocyclic carbene complexes derived from 4,5-diarylimidazole. (2011)European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 46(12):5927-5934.
https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.ejmech.2011.10.002
Invited Seminar
Nanjing Agricultural University, online, 2020
Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, 2019
Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 2018
China Agricultural University, Beijing, 2017
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 2017
CAES Seminar Series, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, CT, 2017
MIT Microbiome Club Grad/Post-doc Seminar Series, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, 2017
Saarland University, Saarbrueken, 2010
Helmholtz Zentrum München, Munich, 2009
Conference Talk
Sino-EuropeanPlant ProtectionYoungScientistsForum,online,2020
International Workshop on Plant-Microbe Interactions in the Rhizosphere, Nanjing, 2018
Sino-German Symposium on Microbiomics and Plant Health, Wuhan, 2018
International Congress of Biological Control, Beijing, 2018
Annual Conference of Chinese Society of Microbial Ecology, Beijing, 2017
American Phytopathology Society Annual Meeting, San Antonio, 2017
