Dr Kai Zeng
Room B82
Tel: +44 (0) 114 222 4708
Fax: +44 (0)114 222 0002
e-mail: k.zeng@sheffield.ac.uk
Career
- BSc (1999) Sun Yat-Sen University (double major in Statistics and Computer Science)
- PhD (2007) Sun Yat-Sen University
- Visiting PhD student (2004 – 2007) University of Chicago
- Royal Society International Incoming Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2008 - 2009) University of Edinburgh
- Royal Society of Edinburgh/Caledonian Research Foundation Biomedical Personal Research Fellow (2009 - 2011) University of Edinburgh
- Lecturer (2011 - present) University of Sheffield
Professional Activities
Research Interests
My research has focused on population genetics. I am particularly interested in developing realistic and computationally tractable models for analyzing DNA sequence data. The aim is to understand how fundamental evolutionary processes such as mutation, genetic drift, genetic recombination, and natural selection interact with one another, and the impact of these interactions on evolution.
Teaching
Positions
Courses
Development
Current Research Group
Research Students
Post Docs
Technical Staff
Recent Publications (2005 to date)
Zeng K. The application of population genetics in the study of codon usage bias. In: Cannarozzi GM, Schneider A, editors. Codon evolution: mechanisms and models. Oxford University Press.
Marion de Procé S, Zeng K, Betancourt AJ, Charlesworth B. 2011. Selection on codon usage and base composition in Drosophila americana. Biol. Lett. in press.
Qiu S, Zeng K, Slotte T, Wright S, Charlesworth D. 2011. Reduced efficacy of natural selection on codon usage bias in selfing Arabidopsis and Capsella species. Genome Biol. Evol. 3: 868-880. (co-first author).
Zeng K, Charlesworth B. 2011. The joint effects of background selection and genetic recombination on local gene genealogies. Genetics 189: 251-266.
Haddrill PR, Zeng K, Charlesworth B. 2011. Determinants of synonymous and nonsynonymous variability in three species of Drosophila. Mol. Biol. Evol. 28:1731-1743.
Zeng K, Charlesworth B. 2010. The effects of demography and linkage on the estimation of selection and mutation parameters. Genetics 186:1411–1424.
Qiu S, Bergero R, Zeng K, Charlesworth D. 2010. Patterns of codon usage bias in Silene latifolia. Mol. Biol. Evol. 28:771-780.
Zeng K. 2010. A simple multi-allele model and its application to identifying preferred/unpreferred codons using polymorphism data. Mol. Biol. Evol. 27:1327-1337.
Zeng K, Charlesworth B. 2010. Studying patterns of recent evolution at synonymous sites and intronic sites in Drosophila melanogaster. J. Mol. Evol. 70:116-128.
Sharp P, Emery L, Zeng K. 2010. Forces that influence the evolution of codon bias. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 365:1203-1212.
Zeng K, Charlesworth B. 2009. Estimating selection intensity on synonymous codon usage in a non-equilibrium population. Genetics 183: 651-662.
Lu J, Fu Y, Kumar S, Shen Y, Zeng K, Xu A, Carthew R, Wu C.-I. 2008. Adaptive evolution of newly emerged micro-RNA genes in Drosophila. Mol. Biol. Evol. 25: 929-938.
Zhou R, Zeng K, Wu W, Chen X, Yang Z, Shi S, Wu C.-I. 2007. Population genetics of speciation in non-model organisms: I. Ancestral polymorphism in mangroves. Mol. Biol. Evol. 24: 2746-2754. (co-first author).
Zeng K, Shi S, Wu C.-I. 2007. Compound tests for the detection of hitchhiking under positive selection. Mol. Biol. Evol. 24: 1898-1908.
Zeng K, Mano S, Shi S, Wu C.-I. 2007. Comparisons of site- and haplotype-frequency methods for detecting positive selection. Mol. Biol. Evol. 24: 1562-1574.
Zeng K, Fu Y.-X, Shi S, Wu C.-I. 2006. Statistical tests for detecting positive selection by utilizing high-frequency variants. Genetics 174: 1431-1439.
Tang T, Lu J, Huang J, He J, McCouch SR, Shen Y, Zeng K, Purugganan MD, Shi S, Wu C.-I. 2006. Genomic variation in rice: genesis of highly polymorphic linkage blocks during domestication. PLoS Genet. 2: e199.
Liu X, Fu Y, Liu Z, Lin B, Xie Y, Liu Y, Xu Y, Lin J, Fan X, Dong M, Zeng K, Wu C.-I, Xu A. 2006. An ancient balanced polymorphism in a regulatory region of human major histocompatibility complex is retained in Chinese minorities but lost worldwide. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 78: 393-400.
Shi S, Huang Y, Zeng K, Tan F, He H, Huang J, Fu Y.-X. 2005. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of mangroves: independent evolutionary origins of vivipary and salt secretion. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 34: 159-166.