My research mainly focuses on pathogenic Cryptococcus species and its closely related non-pathogenic species, including Cryptococcus amylolentus, Filobasidiella depauperata, Cryptococcus heveanensis, etc. Specifically, I am interested in: 1) the evolution of mating type locus in fungi, including the transition between tetrapolar and bipolar mating systems; 2) sexual reproduction, as well as the meiotic and mitotic recombination occurring during sexual reproduction, in pathogenic Cryptococcus species and their non-pathogenic sister species; 3) the genetic architectures of the traits that contribute to the virulence of pathogenic Cryptococcus species; and 4) the mechanisms and evolutionary consequences of uniparental mitochondrial inheritance in Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus amylolentus.
