Dr An-Po Cheng

Since July 2025

Postdoc in the Gutjahr lab

January 2025 - Present

Mentee in Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Research Unit 5116 - exRNA

2020 - 2025

Doctoral thesis in the lab of Prof. Dr. Arne Weiberg, Faculty of Biology – Genetics, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. "Cross-kingdom RNA interference in the Botrytis-plant interaction"

2018 - 2020

Research assistant in Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica.

2011 - 2018

Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, National Taiwan

University.

Awards

2024    LSM Publication Prize. Ludwig-Maximilians University.

2023    Best Student Poster Competition Prize. 2023 IS-MPMI Congress.

2019    ABRC 20th Annual Poster Competition. Academia Sinica.

Publications

1. Cheng A-P, Huang L, Oberkofler L, Johnson NR, Glodeanu A-S, Stillman K, Weiberg A (2025) Fungal Argonaute proteins act in bidirectional cross-kingdom RNA interference during plant infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122: e2422756122
2. Chang L, Chiu Y-S, Chiang S-H, Cheng A-P, Tzean Y, Yeh H-H (2024) Delicate tuning of H2O2 by salicylic acid, catalase 2, and AtSAP5 incites plant immunity. bioRxiv: 2024.2009. 2030.615974
3. Cheng A-P, Lederer B, Oberkofler L, Huang L, Johnson NR, Platten F, Dunker F, Tisserant C, Weiberg A (2023) A fungal RNA-dependent RNA polymerase is a novel player in plant infection and cross-kingdom RNA interference. PLoS Pathogens 19: e1011885
4. Cheng A-P, Kwon S, Adeshara T, Göhre V, Feldbrügge M, Weiberg A (2023) Extracellular RNAs released by plant-associated fungi: from fundamental mechanisms to biotechnological applications. Applied microbiology and biotechnology 107: 5935–5945
5. He B^*, Cai Q^*, Weiberg A^*, Li W, Cheng A-P, Ouyang S, Borkovich K, Stajich J, Abreu-Goodger C, Jin H (2023) Botrytis cinerea small RNAs are associated with tomato AGO1 and silence tomato defense-related target genes supporting cross-kingdom RNAi. Biorxiv: 2022.2012. 2030.522274
6. Chang L, Cheng A-P, Tzean Y, Yeh H-H (2021) The Hub of Salicylic Acid-Mediated Antiviral Immunity in Phalaenopsis Orchid. In: Orchid Biotechnology Iv,  pp. 219–235
7. Tzean Y, Hou B-H, Tsao S-M, Chen H-M, Cheng A-P, Chen EG, Chou W-Y, Chao C-P, Shen W-C, Chen C-C (2021) Identification of MaWRKY40 and MaDLO1 as effective marker genes for tracking the salicylic acid-mediated immune response in bananas. Phytopathology® 111: 1800–1810
8. Cheng A-P^*, Chen S-Y^*, Lai M-H, Wu D-H, Lin S-S, Chen C-Y, Chung C-L (2020) Transcriptome analysis of early defenses in rice against Fusarium fujikuroi. Rice 13: 65
9. Chang L^*, Chang H-H^*, Chang J-C, Lu H-C, Wang T-T, Hsu D-W, Tzean Y, Cheng A-P, Chiu Y-S, Yeh H-H (2018) Plant A20/AN1 protein serves as the important hub to mediate antiviral immunity. PLoS pathogens 14: e1007288