Zhihao Hou

Functionally dark genes and the transcriptomic landscape of sporulation in a model mushroom-forming fungus

This study identifies novel genes and transcriptomic changes during sporulation in Coprinopsis cinerea, highlighting functionally dark genes involved in spore formation.

Functional characterization of a Con7-related transcription factor in Coprinopsis cinerea indicates evolutionary conservation of morphogenetic roles

This study characterizes GCD1, a Con7-related transcription factor in Coprinopsis cinerea, showing its role in fruiting body morphogenesis and evolutionary conservation across fungi.

A new regulator of sporulation sheds light on spore morphogenesis and ballistospory in mushroom-forming fungi

This study identifies SRR1 as a conserved regulator of sporulation and ballistospory in mushroom-forming fungi, revealing its role in spore morphogenesis and identifying downstream targets.

Snowball: a novel gene family required for developmental patterning in fruiting bodies of mushroom-forming fungi (Agaricomycetes)

The paper identifies a novel gene family, Snowball (snb), essential for fruiting body development in Agaricomycetes fungi, showing its role in differentiation through mutant analysis and transcriptomics.

Purging genomes of contamination eliminates systematic bias from evolutionary analyses of ancestral genomes

The paper introduces ContScout, a tool to remove contamination from genomes, showing it reduces bias in evolutionary analyses by eliminating spurious gene origins and inflated gene loss rates.

High-quality genome assembly of Cinnamomum burmannii (chvar. Borneol) provides insights into the natural borneol biosynthesis

The paper presents a high-quality genome assembly of Cinnamomum burmannii and identifies candidate genes involved in natural borneol biosynthesis.