Publications
Google Scholar profile: here, ResearchGate: here
*Co-first authors, Undergrad mentees
2024
X Sun, P Buchanan, I Zhang, M San Roman, A Babbin, E Zakem. (2024) Ecological dynamics explain modular denitrification in the ocean. BioRxiv.
X Sun, A Favier, J Folmar, N Pyenson, A Sanchez, M Rebolleda-Gomez. (2024) Metabolic plasticity shapes microbial communities across a temperature gradient. The American Naturalist.
X Sun (2024) Playing genetic puzzles to discover unseen majority of tiny ocean organisms. Frontiers for Young Minds.
SG Fortin, X Sun, A Jayakumar, BB Ward. (2024) Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria adapted to low oxygen conditions dominate nitrite oxidation in marine oxygen minimum zones. ISMEJ.
J Rosentreter, L Alcott, T Maavara, X Sun, Y Zhou, S Hamburg, N Planavsky and P Raymond. (2024) Revisiting the Global Methane Cycle Through Expert Opinion. Earth's Future.
CL Kelly, NM Travis, PA Baya, C Frey, X Sun, BB Ward, and KL Casciotti. (2024) Isotopomer labeling and oxygen dependence of hybrid nitrous oxide production. Biogeosciences.
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.
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.
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
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)