Background

In 2009, I received my PhD in ecology at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. From Sept. 2009 to Jan. 2012, I worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of Michigan, USA. In Feb. 2012, I joined College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University and started my lab as a Principal Investigator (Professor of zoology and/or ecology).

Research Interests

I teach zoology and study animals at Wuhan University in the central China. I am broadly interested in molecular evolution and comparative genomics in animals. We are most familiar with mammals and birds in general, and bats in particular, but we are open to study other animals in rare cases. Previously, I worked on vision and taste genes in bats, giant panda, mole rats, and penguins. Currently, my research interests are to (1) decipher the evolutionary processes that have generated enormous diversity of form and behaviour well-known in nature, using bats as a model study group, (2) develop or test evolutionary hypotheses on the evolution of sensory systems across vertebrates, using vertebrate taste receptor genes as a model study system.

Research Fields 

Zoology, Ecology, Evolution, Genetics, Genomics, Phylogenetics

Research Keywords

Molecular Evolution, Evolutionary Genomics, Molecular Ecology, Vertebrates, Bats, Mammals, Birds, Diet, Taste, Olfaction, Adaptation, Immunity, Biodiversity, Speciation, Tibet

Contact Information

Professor Huabin Zhao

Department of Ecology, College of Life Sciences,

Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China

Tel: +86 27 6875 3526; Fax: +86 27 6875 2397

Email: huabinzhao@whu.edu.cn

ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7848-6392

Affiliations

1. Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Environment on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory of Virology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, Frontier Science Center for Immunology and Metabolism, Department of Ecology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China

2. Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Environment on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Education, School of Ecology and Environment, Tibet University, Lhasa, 850000, China

Lab website

http://animal-evolution.whu.edu.cn/En/homepage.htm

Selected publications

1. Yan H#, Jiao H#, Liu Q, Zhang Z, Xiong Q, Wang BJ, Wang X, Guo M, Wang LF, Lan K*, Chen Y*, and Zhao H* (2021). ACE2 receptor usage reveals variation in susceptibility to SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 infection among bat species. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 5(5):600-608.

2. Tian S#, Zeng J#, Jiao H, Zhang D, Zhang L, Lei CQ, Rossiter SJ, and Zhao H* (2023). Comparative analyses of bat genomes identify distinct evolution of immunity in Old World fruit bats. Science Advances. 9(18):eadd0141.

3. Jiao H#, Xie HW#, Zhang L#, Zhuoma N, Jiang P, and Zhao H* (2021). Loss of sweet taste despite the conservation of sweet receptor genes in insectivorous bats. PNAS. 118(4):e2021516118.

4. Jiao H#, Wang Q#, Wang BJ, Li K, Lövy M, Nevo E, Li Q, Su W, Jiang P, and Zhao H* (2021). Local adaptation of bitter taste and ecological speciation in a wild mammal. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 38(10):4562-4572.

5. Jiao H#, Zhang L#, Xie HW, Simmons NB, Liu H, and Zhao H* (2019). Trehalase gene as a molecular signature of dietary diversification in mammals. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 36(10):2171-2183.

All publications

http://animal-evolution.whu.edu.cn/En/Publications.htm