College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang University | China
Associate Professor Dr. Yanfeng Jia (born May 30, 1990, P.R. China) is a distinguished plant geneticist at the College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, where she also serves as a Master’s supervisor and a member of the Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Biological Resources and Genetic Engineering. She earned her BSc in Landscape Architecture from Xinjiang Agricultural University (2013), MSc in Plant Genetics and Breeding from Nanjing Agricultural University (2016), and PhD in Genetics from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2020), followed by a postdoctoral fellowship investigating the genic and cis-regulatory basis of environment-inducible C4 photosynthesis. Since joining Xinjiang University in 2023, she has advanced from Lecturer to Associate Professor, leading innovative research in plant molecular biology, rice–pathogen interactions, microRNA-mediated immunity, and photosynthetic evolution. Dr. Jia has secured multiple competitive grants, including the NSFC Youth Program, the Xinjiang “Tianchi Talents” Young Doctoral Program, and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, and has contributed to several national major projects on crop resistance and genetic improvement. Her impactful scholarship includes first-author and corresponding-author publications in Advanced Science, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Plants-Basel, and Frontiers in Genetics, highlighting breakthroughs in bacterial blight resistance, microRNA function, and C3–C4 photosynthetic plasticity. With a strong foundation in molecular genetics and crop resilience, Dr. Jia continues to advance research crucial to agricultural sustainability across Xinjiang and beyond.
Featured Publications
"Genomic and cis-regulatory basis of a plastic C3-C4 photosynthesis in Eleocharis Baldwinii", Chen, L#., Jia, Y.F#., Zhou, Z.H#., Jiang, Q.Y., Liu, J.L., Gu, J.H., Chen, C., Cheng, S.J., Chu, J.F., Liu, X*., Lin, Y.J*., and Li, X*., 2025.
"Rice lipid transfer protein, OsLTPL23, controls seed germination by regulating starch-sugar conversion and ABA homeostasis. Front",Li, Q.L., Zhai, W.X., Wei, J.P., Jia, Y.F., 2025.
"Inducible enrichment of osa-miR1432 confers rice bacterial blight resistance through suppressing OsCaML2",Jia, Y.F., Li, Q.L., Li, Y.Y., Zhai, W.X., Jiang, G.H., and Li, C.R., 2025.
"Characteristic dissection of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae responsive microRNAs in rice",. Jia, Y.F., Li, C.R., Li, Q.L., Liu, P.C., Liu, D.F., Liu, Z.Z., Wang, Y.Y., Jiang, G.H., and Zhai, W.X., 2025.