Presenter: Prof. John Waldo Taylor

University: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, USA

Time: 14:00-14:30, October 22, 2011

Venue: A102, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Introduction: Professor, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology; Curator, Mycological Collections, University Herbarium; Elected President, International Mycological Association;  Member, Editorial Board of IMAFungus; Member, Editorial board of mBIO

Prof. Taylor studies the pattern and process of fungal evolution. He started by studying the pattern of evolution in terms of species and populations and now has begun to study the process. His long term goal is to make fungi the best models for evolutionary biology. He focuses on the key evolutionary event that forms the tree of life: speciation. Recently He and his team have documented species divergences, compared phylogenetic and biological methods of species recognition, addressed the timing of species divergence, and evaluated selection acting on potentially adaptive genes. Now, they are using genetics and genomics to find genes that maintain species and facilitate adaptation.