Welcome to the Liu Lab Spotlight at the University of Liverpool

Self-assembly and defined biosynthesis are extraordinary biological processes to govern and modulate cell physiology. By applying and developing multidisciplinary techniques, including molecular genetics, biochemistry, synthetic biology and biophysical approaches, the Liu Lab aims to uncover the molecular principles driving the self-assembly and maintenance of protein complexes and metabolic machines. Our study will inform rational design and engineering of proteins, enzymes, membranes, new bioinspired nanomaterials, bionanoreactors, and cages for varous biotechnological and biomedical applications, to make our life better and green in a sustainable manner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research Expertise
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Structural Biology, Biophysics, Nanotechnology, Synthetic Biology

Current Projects
- Compartmentalisation, self-assembly, and synthetic engineering of protein organelles
- Biogenesis and regulation of photosynthetic machinery
- Structure and formation of biological membranes and protein assemblies
- Design and engineering of biomaterials and biological machines for clean energy production and sustainable environment

Methodologies
- Molecular genetics, biochemistry, synthetic biology
- Genomics, proteomics and metabolomics
- High-resolution microscopy, including atomic force microscopy, (cryo-)electron microscopy, confocal/TIRF microscopy
- Optical spectroscopy including absorption, fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy

 

Selected Publications (Full publication list)

• Lu-Ning Liu*, Laura Bracun, Mei Li. Structural diversity and modularity of photosynthetic RC−LH1 complexes. Trends in Microbiology, 2024,32(1): 38-52. [fulltext]
• Lu-Ning Liu*. Advances in the bacterial organelles for CO₂ fixation. Trends in Microbiology, 2022, 30(6): 567-580. [fulltext]
• Tao Ni^#, Yaqi Sun^#, Will Burn, Monsour Al-Hazeem, Yanan Zhu, Xiulian Yu, Lu-Ning Liu*, Peijun Zhang* Structure and assembly of cargo Rubisco in two native α-carboxysomes. Nature Communications, 2022, 13(1): 4299. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32004-w. [fulltext]
• Mengru Yang, Nicolas Wenner, Gregory Dykes, Yan Li, Xiaojun Zhu, Yaqi Sun, Fang Huang, Jay Hinton, Lu-Ning Liu* Biogenesis of a bacterial metabolosome for propanediol utilization. Nature Communications, 2022, 13: 2920. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30608-w. [fulltext]
• Peng Cao#, Laura Bracun#, Atsushi Yamagata#, Bern Christianson, Tatsuki Negami, Baohua Zou, Tohru Terada, Daniel P. Canniffe, Mikako Shirouzu*, Mei Li*, Lu-Ning Liu*. Structural basis for the assembly and electron transport mechanisms of the dimeric photosynthetic RC-LH1 supercomplex. Nature Communications, 2022, 13(1):1977. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29563-3. [fulltext]
• Laura Bracun, Atsushi Yamagata, Bern Christianson, Tohru Terada, Daniel Canniffe, Mikako Shirouzu, Lu-Ning Liu*. Cryo-EM structure of the photosynthetic RC–LH1–PufX supercomplex at 2.8-Å resolution. Science Advances, 2021, 7(25): eabf8864. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf8864 [fulltext] (cover article)
• Huokko T, Ni T, Dykes GF, Simpson DM, Brownridge P, Conradi F, Beynon RJ, Nixon PJ, Mullineaux CW, Zhang P, Lu-Ning Liu*. Probing the biogenesis pathway and dynamics of thylakoid membranes. Nature Communications, 2021, 12: 3475. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23680-1. [fulltext]
• Li T, Jiang Q, Huang J, Aitchison CM, Huang F, Yang M, Dykes GF, He HL, Wang Q, Sprick RS, Cooper AI, Lu-Ning Liu*. Reprogramming bacterial protein organelles as a nanoreactor for hydrogen production. Nature Communications, 2020, 11, 5448. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19280-0. [fulltext]
• Mullineaux CW*, Lu-Ning Liu*. Membrane dynamics in phototrophic bacteria. Annual Review of Microbiology, 2020, 74: 633-654. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-micro-020518-120134. [fulltext]
• Huang F, Kong W, Sun Y, Chen T, Dykes GF, Jiang YL, Lu-Ning Liu*. Rubisco accumulation factor 1 (Raf1) plays essential roles in mediating Rubisco assembly and carboxysome biogenesis. PNAS, 2020, 117(29): 17418-17428. [fulltext]
• Zhao LS, Huokko T, Wilson S, Simpson DM, Wang Q, Ruban AV, Mullineaux CW, Zhang YZ*, Lu-Ning Liu*. Structural variability, coordination, and adaptation of a native photosynthetic machinery. Nature Plants, 2020, 6(7): 869-882. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-020-0694-3. [fulltext]
  
• Mengru Yang, Deborah M Simpson, Nicolas Wenner, Philip Brownridge, Victoria M Harman, Jay Hinton, Robert J Beynon, Lu-Ning Liu*. Decoding the stoichiometric composition and organisation of bacterial metabolosomes. Nature Communications, 2020, 11(1): 1976. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15888-4. [fulltext]
• Mahbub M, Hemm L, Yang Y, Kaur R, Carmen H, Engl C, Huokko T, Riediger M, Watanabe S, Lu-Ning Liu, Wilde A, Hess W, Mullineaux CW. mRNA localisation, reaction centre biogenesis and thylakoid membrane targeting in cyanobacteria. Nature Plants, 2020, 6(9), 1179-1191. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-020-00764-2. [fulltext]
• Wang C, Sun B, Zhang X, Huang X, Zhang M, Guo H, Chen X, Huang F, Chen T, Mi H, Yu F, Liu LN, Zhang P. Structural mechanism of the active bicarbonate transporter from cyanobacteria. Nature Plants, 2019, 5(11): 1184-1193. [fulltext]
• Sun Y, Wollman A, Huang F, Leake MC, Liu LN*. Single-organelle quantification reveals the stoichiometric and structural variability of carboxysomes dependent on the environment. Plant Cell, 2019, 31(7): 1648-1664. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00787. [fulltext]
• Casella S, Huang F, Mason D, Zhao GY, John GN, Mullineaux CW, Liu LN*. Dissecting the native architecture and dynamics of cyanobacterial photosynthetic machinery. Molecular Plant, 2017, 10(11): 1434–1448. [fulltext]
• Faulkner M, Rodriguez-Ramos J, Dykes GF, Owen SV, Casella S., Simpson DM, Beynon RJ, Liu LN*. Direct characterization of the native structure and mechanics of cyanobacterial carboxysomes. Nanoscale, 2017, 9(30): 10662-10673. [fulltext]
• Sun Y, Casella S, Fang Y, Huang F, Faulkner M, Barrett S, Liu LN*. Light modulates the biosynthesis and organization of cyanobacterial carbon fixation machinery through photosynthetic electron flow. Plant Physiol, 2016, 171(1): 530-541. [fulltext].
• Sutter M, Faulkner M, Aussignargues C, Paasch BC, Barrett S, Kerfeld CA, Liu LN*. Visualization of bacterial microcompartment facet assembly using high-speed atomic force microscopy. Nano Letters, 2016, 16(3): 1590-1595. [fulltext]
• Liu LN*. Distribution and dynamics of electron transport complexes in cyanobacterial thylakoid membranes.Biochim Biophys Acta - Bioenergetics, 2016, 1857(3): 256-265. [fulltext]
• Liu LN*, Scheuring S. Investigation of photosynthetic membrane structure using atomic force microscopy. Trends Plant Sci, 2013, 18(5): 277-286. [PDF]
• Liu LN*, Bryan SJ, Huang F, Yu JF, Nixon PJ, Rich PR, Mullineaux CW. Control of electron transport routes through redox-regulated redistribution of respiratory complexes. PNAS, 2012, 109(28): 11431-11436. [PDF]
  
• Liu LN, Duquesne K, Oesterhelt F, Sturgis JN, Scheuring S. Forces guiding assembly of light-harvesting complex 2 in native membranes. PNAS, 2011, 108(23): 9455-9459. [PDF]
  

News

• Congratulations to Lu-Ning Liu for being awarded as Top10 Rising Star in Plant Science 2023 by Molecular Plant.
• Our research article on carboxysome shell permeability has been featured as a cover article in Biomacromolecules. [link]
• Our review article on carboxysomes has been featured as a cover article in Trends in Microbiology. [link]
• Our research article on carboxysome engineering has been featured as a cover article in ACS Synthetic Biology. [link]
• Our paper on engineering carboxysome-based nanobioreactor [fulltext] has been featured on Nature Communications Editors' Highlights on "Biotechnology and methods" webpage. [link]
• Our Crystal Ball paper on bacterial metabolosomes has been featured as a cover article in Microbial Biotechnology. [link]
• Dr Luning Liu has been granted with a Life 2020 Young Investigator Award. [link]
• Congratulations to Mengru Yang for the award of the University of Liverpool Graduate Association Hong Kong Scholarship (2020-2021) as the 4th-year PhD student.
• Congratulations to Tianpei Li for receiving the Best Contributed Talk in Fundamentals in Biology (Biochemical Society) at the International Online Conference on Bio-hybrid Approaches to Solar Energy Conversion, October 27-29, 2020.
• Our Nature Plants 2020 paper has been recommended in Faculty Opinions.
• The Liu Lab at the University of Liverpool hosted 2019 Bruker Scanning Probe Microscope conference. [link]
• Our paper on cyanobacterial bicarbonate transporter has been published in Nature Plants. [link1], [link2]
• Congratulations to Mengru Yang for the award of the University of Liverpool Graduate Association Hong Kong Scholarship (2018-2019) as the third-year PhD student.
• Sun et al., Plant Cell 2019, 31(7): 1648-1664 has been the #3 Plant Cell article based on number of mentions during the month of May 20198 (Twitter).
• Sun et al., Plant Physiol 2016, 171(1): 530-541 has been selected as No. 5 of the most attention-getting articles in Plant Physiology during the YEAR 2018 (Twitter).
• We had a lovely and fascinating outreach day on 31 October 2018, Halloween Science event, with the focus on protein self-assembly and biological shapes.
• Congratulations to Mengru Yang for the award of the University of Liverpool Graduate Association Hong Kong Scholarship (2017-2018) as the 2nd-year PhD student.
• Congratulations to Selene Casella for her paper featured as a cover article in Molecular Plant November 2017.
• Prof. Martin Buck, FRS, at the Imperial College London visited the Liu lab and presented a talk in the Institute.
• Prof. Richard Cogdell, FRS, at University of Glasgow visited the Liu lab and presented a talk in the Institute.
• Congratulations to Zimeng Zhang for the award of the University of Liverpool Graduate Association Hong Kong Scholarship (2016-2017) as the first-year PhD student.
• Dr Liu was invited to give a talk at CCM9 meeting in Cambridge, UK, August 2016.
• Dr Liu was invited to give a talk at 17th International Photosynthesis Conference in Netherlands, August 2016.
• Prof. Judy Armitage, FRS, at the University of Oxford visited the Liu lab and presented a talk in the Institute.
• Product News: JPK’s NanoWizard® ULTRA Speed AFM System at the Liu Lab [link1, link2].
• Congratulations to Yaqi Sun for his paper published in Plant Physiology March 2016.
• Congratulations to Matthew Faulkner for his paper featured as a cover article in Nano Letters March 2016.
  

Fundings