Jiangfeng Zhao is a 32-year-old structural biologist specializing in RNA biology, with a particular focus on pre-mRNA splicing. He completed his PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt in the group of Prof. Hartmut Michel.

Hhe investigated membrane proteins using x-ray crystallography and biophysical approaches. Subsequently, he moved to France to become a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Wojciech P. Galej at EMBL Grenoble. Currently,
he is employing cryo-electron microscopy to uncover the molecular mechanisms of the U12-dependent pre-mRNA splicing in humans. During his postdoc, he made contributions to several research projects in the Galej group, including U5 snRNP biogenesis (Schneider et al., _NSMB_
2024), mechanism of the 5’ splice site recognition by minor spliceosome (Zhao et al., Mol Cell, article presented here), as well as two other splicing projects, for which manuscripts are under
preparation. In 2024, he received a Marie-Sklodowska Curie individual fellowship to support his research at EMBL Grenoble.

Article references

J.Zhao, D. Peter, I. Brandina, X. Liu, W. P. Galej, Structural basis of 5’ splice site recognition by the minor spliceosome. Mol. Cell. 85, 652-664.e4 (2025). “Structural basis of 5’ splice site recognition by the minor spliceosome”

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2024.12.017 [1]

Abstract

The minor spliceosome catalyzes excision of U12-dependent introns from precursors of eukaryotic messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs). This process is critical for many cellular functions, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we report a cryoelectron microscopy
(cryo-EM) reconstruction of the 13-subunit human U11 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle (snRNP) complex in apo and substrate-bound forms, revealing the architecture of the U11 small nuclear RNA (snRNA), five minor spliceosome-specific factors, and the mechanism of the U12-type 5′ splice site (5′SS) recognition. SNRNP25 and SNRNP35 specifically recognize U11 snRNA, while PDCD7 bridges SNRNP25 and SNRNP48, located at the distal ends of the particle. SNRNP48 and ZMAT5 are positioned near the 5′ end of U11 snRNA and stabilize binding of the incoming 5′SS. Recognition of the U12-type 5′SS is achieved through base-pairing to the 5′ end of the U11 snRNA and unexpected, non-canonical base-triple interactions with the U11 snRNA stem-loop 3. Our structures provide mechanistic insights into U12-dependent intron recognition and the evolution of the splicing
machinery.