Publications
Google Scholar profile: here, ResearchGate: here
Selected under review papers (preprints available)
PJ Buchanan, X Sun, JL Weissman, E Zakem. (under review) Oxygen intrusions sustain aerobic nitrite oxidation in anoxic marine zones.
CL Kelly, NM Travis, PA Baya, C Frey, X Sun, BB Ward, and KL Casciotti. (under review) Isotopomer labeling and oxygen dependence of hybrid nitrous oxide production.
2024
X Sun, A Favier, J Folmar, N Pyenson, A Sanchez, M Rebolleda-Gomez. (accepted) Predictive microbial community changes across a temperature gradient. The American Naturalist.
X Sun (accepted) Playing genetic puzzles to discover unseen majority of tiny ocean organisms. Frontiers for Young Minds.
W Qin*, SP Wei*, Y Zheng*, E Choi*..., X Sun, ...et al. (2024) Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea exhibit differential nitrogen source preferences. Nature Microbiology.
* Co-first authors
2023
X Sun and A Sanchez. (2023) Synthesizing microbial biodiversity. Current Opinion in Microbiology.
X Sun, C Frey, and BB Ward. (2023) Nitrite oxidation across the full oxygen spectrum in the ocean. Global Biogeochemical Cycles.
M Wang*, X Sun*, NR Chiariello, KM Docherty, CB Field, Q Gao, X Guo, JLM Gutknecht, BA Hungate, J Lei, Z Shi, M Yuan, W Shu, J Zhou, and Y Yang. (2023) Long-term elevated precipitation induces grassland soil carbon loss via microbe-plant-soil interplay. Global Change Biology.
* Co-first authors
W Tang, BB Ward..., X Sun, ... et al. (2023) Database of nitrification and nitrifiers in the global ocean. Earth System Science Data.
IH Zhang, X Sun, A Jayakumar, SG Fortin, BB Ward, and AR Babbin. (2023) Partitioning of the denitrification pathway and other nitrite metabolisms within global oxygen deficient zones. ISME communications.
C Frey, X Sun, K Casciotti, CL Kelly, E Robledo-Garcia, L Szemberski, M Lehmann and BB Ward. (2023) Nitrous oxide production kinetics from ammonium oxidation in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific. Limnology and Oceanography.
J Tracey, A Babbin, E Wallace, X Sun, K DuRussel, C Frey, D Martocello, T Tamasi, S Oleynik, and BB Ward. (2023) All about nitrite: exploring nitrite sources and sinks in oxygen minimum zones. Biogeosciences.
2022
W Tang, A Jayakumar, X Sun, J Tracey, J Carroll, E Wallace, J Lee, L Nathan and BB Ward. (2022) Nitrous Oxide Consumption in Oxygenated and Anoxic Estuarine Waters. Geophysical Research Letters.
M Mdutyana, TA Marshall, X Sun, JM Burger, SJ Thomalla, BB Ward and SE Fawcett. (2022) Controls on Nitrite Oxidation in the Upper Southern Ocean: Insights from Winter Kinetics Experiments in the Indian Sector. Biogeosciences.
W Tang, J Tracey, J Carroll, E Wallace, J Lee, L Nathan, X Sun, A Jayakumar and BB Ward (2022) Nitrous Oxide Production in the Chesapeake Bay. Limnology and Oceanography.
M Mdutyana, X Sun, JM Burger, RS Flynn, S Smith, NR van Horsten, E Bucciarelli, SJ Thomalla, BB Ward and SE Fawcett (2022) The Kinetics of Ammonium Uptake and Oxidation Across the African Sector of the Southern Ocean. Limnology and Oceanography.
2021
X Sun and BB Ward (2021) Novel metagenome-assembled genomes involved in the nitrogen cycle from a Pacific oxygen minimum zone. ISME Communications.
A Bourbonnais, C Frey, X Sun, LA Bristow, A Jayakumar, N Ostrom, K Casciotti and BB Ward (2021) Protocols for Assessing Transformation Rates of Nitrous Oxide in the Water Column. Frontiers in Marine Science.
X Sun, C Frey, E Garcia-Robledo, A Jayakumar and BB Ward. (2021) Microbial Niche Differentiation Explains Nitrite Oxidation in Marine Oxygen Minimum Zones. The ISME journal.
--Check out the story behind the paper: Marine nitrite-oxidizing bacteria cannot be defined by their stereotypes.
X Sun, A Jayakumar, JC Tracey, E Wallace, CL Kelly, KL Casciotti and BB Ward. (2021) Microbial N2O consumption in and above Marine N2O production hotspots. The ISME journal.
--Check out the story behind the paper: Understanding microbes improves the prediction of biogeochemical cycles.
2020
C Frey, HW Bange, EP Achterberg, A Jayakumar, CR Löscher, DL Arévalo-Martínez, E León-Palmero, M Sun, X Sun, RC Xie, S Oleynik, and BB Ward. (2020) Regulation of nitrous oxide production in low oxygen waters off the coast of Peru. Biogeosciences, 17.
2019
X Sun, L FM Kop, MCY Lau, S Lücker, J Frank, A Jayakumar and BB Ward. (2019) Uncultured Nitrospina-like species are major nitrite oxidizing bacteria in oxygen minimum zones. The ISME journal, 13 (10).
--Check out the story behind the paper: Follow the weirdos: outliers motivate great collaboration and research.
2018
Q Ji, C Frey, X Sun, M Jackson, Y Lee, A Jayakumar, JC Cornwell and BB Ward. (2018) Nitrogen and oxygen availabilities control water column nitrous oxide production during seasonal anoxia in the Chesapeake Bay. Biogeosciences, 15 (20).
2017
X Sun, Q Ji, A Jayakumar and BB Ward. (2017) Dependence of nitrite oxidation on nitrite and oxygen in low oxygen seawater. Geophysical Research Letters, 44 (15).
X Sun, A Jayakumar and BB Ward. (2017) Community composition of nitrous oxide consuming bacteria in the oxygen minimum zone of the Eastern Tropical South Pacific. Frontiers in Microbiology, 8.
Before 2017 (work done before the start of my Ph.D.)
H Yue, M Wang, S Wang, JA Gilbert, X Sun, et al. (2015) The microbe-mediated mechanisms affecting topsoil carbon balance in Tibetan grasslands. The ISME journal, 9(9).
J Ding, Y Zhang, Y Deng, J Cong, H Lu, X Sun, et al. (2015) Integrated metagenomics and network analysis of soil microbial community of the forest timberline. Scientific Reports, 5.
J Ding, Y Zhang, M Wang, X Sun, et al. (2015) Soil organic matter quantity and quality shape microbial community compositions of subtropical broadleaved forests. Molecular Ecology, 24 (20).
X Sun, et al. (2015) Molecular ecological network analyses revealing the effects of livestock grazing on soil microbial community in the Tibetan grassland. Microbiology China, 42 (9).
X Sun, et al. (2013) Recent advancement in microbial environmental research using metagenomics tools. Biodiversity Science, 21 (4). (In Chinese)