Zeng Yanfei

Prof.  Zeng Yanfei

Organization: Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry

Research category: Forest Tree Genetics and Breeding

Research field: Tress phylogenetics and evolution; genetic diversity and identification of germplasm resources in fruit crop

E-mail: zengyf@caf.ac.cn

Main work

Prof. Zeng Yanfei's research mainly focus on exploring the impact of Quaternary climate change on the distribution and genetic variation of temperate deciduous tree species in China, and analyzing the role and significance of interspecific hybridization in forest tree species. Through a genetic study of Mongolian oak populations, she has proven the presence of glacial refugia for cold temperate forest tree species in situ in northern China during the Last Glacial Maximum. She has found that the Populus euphratica distributed in northwest China was influenced by both geological and Quaternary climate changes. The analysis of genetic variation in the natural population of P. euphratica in China clarified that the uplift of the Tianshan Mountains has limited the genetic exchange of populations in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, while Quaternary climate changes had accelerated the genetic differentiation of P. euphratica between populations from these two regions. I found that frequent interspecific hybridization might be an important source of high genetic diversity in Chinese oak species; the Liaodong oak, originally distributed in the western part of China, has spread to the northeast region through repeated asymmetric hybridization of pollen with the Northeast Mongolian oak. By constructing the phylogenetic relationship of the genus Hippophae, she found that the interspecific hybridization might have played an important role of in species diversification of this genus.

Prof. Zeng Yanfei also focuses on the genetic diversity and identification germplasm resources in fruit crop, such as sea buckthorn and olive. Her student and herself has developed many molecular markers for genetic diversity analysis and germplasm resource identification both in seabuckthorn and olive.Using the advantage of multiplex PCR amplification and high-throughput sequencing, we have constructed a fingerprint database for the majority of olives cultivated in China, which could provide a reliable olive variety identification platform in China, with high discrimination among different varieties using the principle of BLAST algorithm.

Key research projects

  • Study of genetic diversity of endemic germplasm and its origin and evolution, National Key R&D Program of China, 2019.05-2022.12 (Project Leader)

  • Exploring the role of cytonuclear incompatibility on maintaining species status of a Populus hybrid zone in Xinjiang province, National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2017.01-2020.12 (PI)

  • The impact of glacial refugial isolation on the speciation of Quercus mongolica-Quercus liaotungensis complex, National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2012.01-2016.12 (PI)

Awards & achievements

  • The second prize of "Liang Xi Science and Technology Progress Award in China" 2020, the third place

  • The second prize of "Liang Xi Young Scientific Paper Award in China" 2016, the first place

Published articles & books

  • Huang Lan, Zeng Yanfei *, Li Jinhua, Deng Yu, Su Guangcan, Zhang Jianguo*. 2023. One hundred single‑copy nuclear sequence markers for olive variety identification: a case of fingerprinting database construction in China. Molecular Breeding, 43:86.

  • Wang Luoyun, Li Shanshan, Wang Tianyi, He Caiyun, Luo H, Zhang Jianguo*, Zeng Yanfei*. 2021. Genomic SSR and EST-SSR markers for phylogenetic and pedigree reconstructions—A comparison in sea buckthorn. Plant Breeding, 140: 167–183.

  • Chen Jun, Zeng Yanfei*, Zhang Dayong. 2021. Dispersal as a result of asymmetrical hybridization between two closely related oak species in China. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 154: 106964.

  • Wang Tianyi, Xu Yue, Wang Luoyun, Zhang Jianguo, Zeng Yanfei*. 2021.Genetic differentiation and genetic diversity of Hippophae rhamnoides subsp. sinensis and H. rhamnoidessubsp.yunnanensis. Forest Research, 34(04): 13-21. (In Chinese)

  • Zeng Yanfei*, Wang Wenting, Liao Wanjin, Wang Hongfang, and Zhang Dayong*. 2015. Multiple glacial refugia for cool-temperate deciduous trees in northern East Asia: the Mongolian Oak as a case study. Molecular Ecology, 24(22): 5676-5691.

  • Zhang Jianguo, Zeng Yanfei, He Caiyun et al. Study on the genus of Populus in Xinjiang. Beijing: Chinese Forestry Publishing house, 2014. (In Chinese)

Other results

  • Zeng yanfei, Huang Lan, Zhang Jianguo, Yan Pengcheng. A construction method on olive germplasm resource database and its application for variety identification. Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, ZL202211132152.8. 2023-10-20.