Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences | China
Dr. Songli Yuan is an Associate Researcher at the Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, specializing in the molecular biology of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legumes, particularly soybean. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Bioscience from Huazhong Agricultural University and continued at the same institution for her Ph.D. in the State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology. During her doctoral studies, she also trained at the State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, gaining additional experience in plant gene research. Dr. Yuan’s research primarily focuses on understanding the molecular physiology of legume-rhizobium symbiosis, including host-microbe specificity, signaling pathways, and functional gene discovery related to nodulation and nitrogen fixation. Her expertise spans microbiology, molecular biology, microbial biotechnology, signal transduction, and plant biochemistry. She has authored 43 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, including Plant Physiology, Journal of Experimental Botany, Frontiers in Plant Science, and Scientific Reports. Her work has been cited 1,272 times by 1,124 documents, reflecting her impact in the field of plant-microbe interactions. She holds an h-index of 18 (Scopus), demonstrating consistent scholarly influence and contribution. Dr. Yuan’s research is instrumental in breeding high-efficiency soybean cultivars and improving biological nitrogen fixation, aligning with sustainable agricultural goals. Her deep commitment to advancing symbiotic nitrogen-fixation biology positions her as a leading researcher in agricultural biotechnology and plant molecular physiology.
Featured Publications
Jin, F., Ke, D., Lu, L., Hu, Q., Zhang, C., Li, C., Liang, W., Yuan, S., & Chen, H. (2025). Suppression of nodule formation by RNAi knock-down of Bax inhibitor-1a in Lotus japonicus. Genes, 16(1), 58.
Yuan, S., Ke, D., Liu, B., Zhang, M., Li, X., Chen, H., Zhang, C., Huang, Y., Sun, S., Shen, J., Yang, S., Zhou, S., Leng, P., Guan, Y., & Zhou, X. (2023). The Bax inhibitor GmBI-1α interacts with a Nod factor receptor and plays a dual role in the legume-rhizobia symbiosis. Journal of Experimental Botany, 74(18), 5820–5839.
Wu, P., Feng, Y., Zou, Z., Cao, Y., & Yuan, S. (2021). Critical role of cysteine-266 of SIE3 in regulating the ubiquitination and degradation of SIP1 transcription factor in Lotus japonicus. Planta, 253, 126.
Feng, Y., Wu, P., Fu, W., Peng, L., Zhu, H., Cao, Y., Zhou, X., Hong, Z., Zhang, Z., & Yuan, S. (2020). The Lotus japonicus ubiquitin ligase SIE3 interacts with the transcription factor SIP1 and forms a homodimer. Frontiers in Plant Science, 11, 795.
Yuan, S., Zhu, H., Gou, H., Fu, W., Liu, L., Chen, T., Ke, D., Kang, H., Xie, Q., Hong, Z., & Zhang, Z. (2012). A ubiquitin ligase of symbiosis receptor kinase involved in nodule organogenesis. Plant Physiology, 160(1), 106–117.