Research Interests

Our research tackles some fundamental evolutionary questions such as speciation, adaptation, and introgression. In particular, our work focuses on integrating experimental and computational approaches to study adaptive introgression in model and non-model organisms. Our research interests also include investigating anti-predator adaptation such as mimicry, aposematic coloration, and camouflage in insects.

Representative Publications

• （* equal contribution, # corresponding author）
  Huang G*, Zhang Y*, Zhang W, Wei F#. Genetic mechanisms of animal camouflage: an interdisciplinary perspective. Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 20:S0168-9525(24)00073-8.
  Zhang W#, Lohman DJ. Uncovering the functional basis of mantids that resemble plants. Sci. China Life Sci. 2024 Jan;67(1):215-216.
  Zhang LJ#*, Shi ZA*, Chen ZY, von Rintelen T, Zhang W, Lou ZJ. Rediscovery and systematics of the enigmatic genus Helicostoa reveals a new species of sessile freshwater snail with remarkable sexual dimorphism. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 2024 Jan;67(1):215-216.
  Yang W, Cui J, Chen Y, Wang C, Yin Y, Zhang W, Liu S, Sun C, Li H, Duan Y, Song F, Cai W, Hines HM, Tian L#. Genetic modification of a Hox locus drives mimetic color pattern variation in a highly polymorphic bumble bee. Mol. Biol. Evol. 2023 Dec 1:msad261.
  Teng D, Zhang W#. The diversification of butterfly wing patterns: Progress and prospects. Curr. Opin. Insect Sci. 2023 Nov 3:61:101137. (Invited review)
  Wang Z*, Sun J*, Gao Y, Xue Y, Zhang Y, Li K, Zhang W, Zhang C, Zu J#, Zhang L#. Fusang: A framework for phylogenetic tree inference via deep learning. Nucleic Acids Res. 2023 Oct 11: gkad805.（Cover Story）
  Wang S, Girardello M, Zhang W#. Potential and progress of studying mountain biodiversity by means of butterfly genetics and genomics. J. Genet. Genomics 2023 Jun 10:j.jgg.2023.06.001 (Invited review)
  Zhang Y*, Zhu Q*, Shao Y, Jiang Y, Ouyang Y, Zhang L#, Zhang W#. Inferring historical introgression with deep learning. Syst. Biol. 2023 Nov 1;72(5):1013-1038. (Cover Story)
  Zeng H#*, Zhao D*, Zhang Z, Gao H, Zhang W#. Imperfect ant mimicry contributes to local adaptation in a jumping spider. iScience 2023 May 17:106747. (Reported by Cell Magazine, Science Magazine, NY Times, Phys and ScienceDaily)
  Zhang W#, Zhang L, Zhang W. Editorial: The origination of genetic novelties: New genes, new regulations, and new cell types. Front. Genet. 2023 Jan 13:1118926.
  Ge D*, Wen Z*, Feijo A*, Lissovsky A*, Zhang W*, Chen J, Yan C, She H, Zhang D, Cheng Y, Lu L, Wu X, Mu D, Zhang Y, Xia L, Qu Y#, Vogler AP#, Yang Q#. Genomic consequences and demographic response to pervasive hybridization over time in climate-sensitive pikas. Mol. Biol. Evol. 2022 Dec 23:msac274.
  Wu N, Evans E, van Schooten B, Meléndez-Rosa J, Ortiz Y, Planas Soto-Navarro SM, Van Belleghem SM, Counterman BA, Papa R#, Zhang W#. Widespread gene expression divergence in butterfly sensory tissues plays a fundamental role during reproductive isolation and speciation. Mol. Biol. Evol. 2022 Nov 3;39(11):msac225.（Cover Story）
  Wang S*, Teng D*, Li X*, Yang P, Da W, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Liu G, Zhang X, Wan W, Dong Z, Wang D, Huang S, Jiang Z, Wang Q, Lohman DJ, Wu Y, Zhang L, Jia F, Westerman E, Zhang L, Wang W, Zhang W#. The evolution and diversification of oakleaf butterflies. Cell 2022 Aug 18;185:1-15.（Cover Story, reported by Cell, CNS, Phys and ScienceDaily and recommended by Nature Ecology and Evolution Year in Review）
  Wang S*, Teng D*, Zhang W#. Evolutionary and genetic mechanisms of biodiversity in mountainous areas revealed by the example of Kallima butterflies. Hereditas (Beijing) 2022 44 (9):731–732.
  Wang Y*, Fan Y*, Fan D*, Zhang Y, Zhou X, Zhang R, Wang Y, Sun Y, Zhang W, He Y, Deng XW#, Zhu D#. The Arabidopsis DREAM complex antagonizes WDR5A to modulate histone H3K4me2/3 deposition for a subset of genome repression. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2022 Jul 5;119(27):e2206075119.
  He J*, Zhang R*, Yang J*, Chang Z*, Zhu L*, Lu S*, Xie F, Mao J, Dong Z, Liu G, Hu P, Dong Y, Wan W, Zhao R, Xiong T, León-Cortés JL, Mao C, Zhang W, Zhan S, Li J, Chen L#, Wang W#, Li X#. High-quality reference genomes of swallowtail butterflies provide insights into their coloration evolution. Zool. Res. 2022 May 18;43(3):367–379.
  Sun T, Song Y, Teng D, Chen Y, Dai J, Ma M, Zhang W, Pastor-Pareja JC#. Atypical laminin spots and pull-generated microtubule-actin projections mediate Drosophila wing adhesion. Cell Rep. 2021 Sep 7;36(10):109667.
  Zhang Y*, Teng D*, Lu W*, Liu M*, Zeng H, Cao L, Southcott L, Potdar S, Westerman E, Zhu AJ#, Zhang W#. A widely diverged locus involved in locomotor adaptation in Heliconius butterflies. Sci. Adv. 2021 Aug 4;7(32):eabh2340.（Cover Story）
  Teng D, Li F, Zhang W#. Using comprehensive machine-learning models to classify complex morphological characters. Ecol. Evol. 2021 Jun 27;11(15):10421-10431. doi: 10.1002/ece3.7845.
  Feng Y*, Xu H*, Liu J*, Xie N, Gao L, He Y, Yao Y, Lv F, Zhang Y, Lu J, Zhang W, Li C, Hu X#, Yang Z#, Xiao R. Functional and adaptive significance of promoter mutations that affect divergent myocardial expressions of TRIM72 in primates. Mol. Biol. Evol. 2021 Mar 21;msab083.
  Yang J*, Wan W*, Xie M*, Mao J*, Dong Z*, Lu S, He J, Xie F, Liu G, Dai X, Chang Z, Zhao R, Zhang R, Wang S, Zhang Y, Zhang W#, Wang W#, Li X#. Chromosome-level reference genome assembly and gene editing of the dead-leaf butterfly Kallima inachus. Mol. Ecol. Resour. 2020 Jul;20(4):1080-1092.
  Mullen SP#, VanKuren NW, Zhang W, Nallu S, Kristiansen EB, Wuyun Q, Liu K, Hill RI, Briscoe AD, Kronforst MR. Disentangling population history and character evolution among hybridizing lineages. Mol. Biol. Evol. 2020 Jan 13;pii:msaa004.
  Zhang W#, Leon-Ricardo BX, van Schooten B, Van Belleghem SM, Counterman BA, McMillan WO, Kronforst MR, Papa R. Comparative transcriptomics provides insights into reticulate and adaptive evolution of a butterfly radiation. Genome Biol. Evol. 2019 Sep 13;11(10):2963-2975.
  Chen J*#, Huang Y*, Brachi B*, Yun Q*, Zhang W, Lu W, Li H, Li W, Sun X, Wang G, He J, Zhou Z, Chen K, Ji Y, Shi M, Sun W, Yang Y#, Zhang R#, Abbott RJ#, Sun H#. Genome-wide analysis of Cushion willow provides insights into alpine plant divergence in a biodiversity hotspot. Nat. Commun. 2019 Nov 19;10(1):5230.
  Westerman E*, VanKuren N*, Massardo D, Tanger-Trolander A, Zhang W, Hill RI, Perry M, Bayala E, Barr K, Chamberlain N, Douglas TE, Buerkle N, Palmer S, Kronfost MR#. Aristaless controls butterfly wing color variation used in mimicry and mate choice. Curr. Biol. 2018 Nov 5;28(21):3469-3474.e4.
  Nallu S, Hill JA, Don K, Sahagun C, Zhang W, Meslin C, Snell-Rood E, Clark NL， Morehouse NI, Bergelson J, Wheat CW, Kronforst MR#. The molecular genetic basis of herbivory between butterflies and their host-plants. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2018 Sep;2(9):1418-1427. (Reported by Nature Plants)
  Zhang W, Westerman E, Nitzany E, Palmer S, Kronforst MR#. Tracing the origin and evolution of supergene mimicry in butterflies. Nat. Commun. 2017 Nov 7;8(1):1269. (Reported by University of Chicago, PBS, and ScienceDaily)
  Zhang W#, Dasmahapatra KK, Mallet J, Moreira GR, Kronforst MR#. Genome-wide introgression among distantly related Heliconius butterfly species. Genome Biol. 2016 Feb 27;17(1):25. (Research highlighted by Genome Biology)
  Li X*, Fan D*, Zhang W*, Liu G*, Zhang L*, Zhao L, Fang X, Chen L, Dong Y, Chen Y, Ding Y, Zhao R, Feng M, Zhu Y, Feng Y, Jiang X, Zhu D, Xiang H, Feng X, Li S, Wang J, Zhang G, Kronforst MR#, Wang W#. Outbred genome sequencing and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in butterflies. Nat. Commun. 2015 Sep 10;6:8212.
  Zhan S#, Zhang W, Niitepold K, Hsu J, Fernández Haeger J, Zalucki M, Altizer S, De Roode J, Reppert S, Kronforst MR#. The genetics of monarch butterfly migration and warning colouration. Nature. 2014 Oct 16;514(7522):317-21. (Reported by Nature News & Views, Science Magazine, NY Times, National Geographic, Washington Post and NBC News)
  Kunte K*#, Zhang W*, Tenger-Trolander A, Palmer D, Martin A, Reed RD, Mullen SP, Kronforst MR#. doublesex is a mimicry supergene. Nature. 2014 Mar 13;507(7491):229-32. (Recommended by Faculty of 1000, reported by Nature News & Views, Nature Magazine, Science Magazine, NY Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune and University of Chicago and included in An Introduction to Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics, 2016 Edition and Genetics: From Genes to Genomes (Hartwell), 2017 Edition)
  Kronforst MR#, Hansen MEB, Crawford NG, Gallant JR, Zhang W, Kulathinal RJ, Kapan DD, Mullen SP#. Hybridization reveals the evolving genomic architecture of speciation. Cell Rep. 2013 Nov 14;5(3):666-77. (Selected as Cell Report Best of 2013 and reported by Science Magazine, The Economist, LA Times and University of Chicago)
  Zhang W, Kunte K, Kronforst MR#. Genome-wide characterization of adaptation and speciation in tiger swallowtail butterflies using de novo transcriptome assemblies. Genome Biol. Evol. 2013;5(6):1233-45. (Cover Story)
  Yang C, Zhang W, Ren M, Song L, Li T#, Zhao J#. Whole-genome sequence of Microcystis aeruginosa TAIHU98, a nontoxic bloom-forming strain isolated from Taihu Lake, China. Genome Announ. 2013 Jun 1(3). pii: e00333-13.
  Hu Y, Zhang X, Shi Y, Zhou Y, Zhang W, Su XD, Xia B, Zhao J#, Jin C#. Structures of Anabaena calcium-binding Protein CcbP: insights into Ca2+ signaling during heterocyst differentiation. J Biol. Chem. 2011 Apr 286(14): 12381-12388.
  Shi Y*, Zhao W*, Zhang W, Ye Z, Zhao J#. Regulation of intracellular free calcium concentration during heterocyst differentiation by HetR and NtcA in Anabaena sp. PCC 7120. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2006 Jul 103(30): 11334-11339.

Teaching courses