Main work
A former postdoc who studied abroad at CSIRO in Australia and is currently a standing committee member of the Tropical Rainforest Branch of the Chinese Forestry Society and an editorial board member of the Journal of Nanjing Forestry University's Natural Science Edition. Prof. Li Fagen has published over 20 SCI papers and received approval for five new varieties and five national invention patents. His research focuses on biodiversity conservation and molecular breeding of valuable fast-growing timber species, native tree species, and ethnic medicinal plants. In recent years, the focus of their work has been on conducting research in the areas of population genetics, genome-wide association analysis, and genome selection to investigate the mechanisms underlying the formation of economically important traits in forest trees. We employ methods such as genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics to achieve this goal. Their efforts in this regard are aimed at providing excellent germplasm for ecological restoration and improving the level of biodiversity. Furthermore, they conduct research in forest tree molecular breeding to shorten the breeding cycle, enhance target traits, increase breeding efficiency, and provide technical support that enables the full exploitation of the economic and ecological benefits of forestry.
Key research projects
The National Key R&D Program of China during the 14th Five-year Plan Period, The development of excellent eucalyptus breeding resources and the establishment of key breeding populations (2022YFD2200203-2), 2022-2027
The Fundamental Research Funds of Chinese Academy of Forestry, Adaptive diversification of growth allometry in forest trees at different latitudes (CAFYBB2021ZA001), 2021-2025
Guangdong Natural Science Foundation, Mining and verification of candidate functional genes of eucalypts wood properties by incorporating both QTL and RNA-seq (2020A1515010974), 2019-2022
Published articles & books
Wang Ping, Jia Cuirong, Bush David, Zhou Changpin, Weng Qijie, Li Fagen*, Zhao Haiwen, Zhang Hairun. Predicting genetic response to future climate change in Eucalyptus grandis by combining genomic data with climate models. Forest Ecology and Management, 2023, 549, 121492
Zhu Xianliang, Weng Qijie, Bush David, Zhou Changpin, Zhao Haiwen, Wang Ping, Li Fagen*. High-density genetic linkage mapping reveals low stability of QTLs across environments for economic traits in Eucalyptus. Front. Plant Sci. 13:1099705. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1099705
Zhu Xianliang, He Jiayue, Zhou Changpin, Weng Qijie, Chen Shengkan, Bush David, Li Fagen*. Xylem Transcriptome Analysis in Contrasting Wood Phenotypes of Eucalyptus urophylla × tereticornis Hybrids. Forests, 2022, 13, 1102. https://doi.org/10.3390/f13071102
Zhang Miaomiao, Zhou Changpin, Song Zhijiao, Weng Qijie, Li Mei, Ji Hongxia, Mo Xiaoyong, Huang Huanhua, Lu Wanhong, Luo Jianzhong, Li Fagen*, Gan Siming*. The first identification of genomic loci in plants associated with resistance to galling insects: a case study in Eucalyptus L'Hér. (Myrtaceae). Scientific Reports, 2018, 8: 2319.
Li Fagen, Zhou Changping, Weng Qijie, Li Mei, Yu Xiaoli, Guo Yong, Wang Yu, Zhang Xiaohong, Gan Siming*. Comparative genomics analyses reveal extensive chromosome colinearity and novel quantitative trait loci in Eucalyptus. PLoS One, 2015, 10(12) e0145144. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0145144
Li Fagen, Yang Fang, Weng Qijie, Yin Guantian, Li Mei, Gan Siming* Generation and analysis of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for microsatellite marker development in Calamus simplicifolius C. F. Wei. Molecular Breeding, 2013, 31(4): 867-877.
Other results
Li Fagen, Zhou Changpin, Gan Siming, Weng Qijie, He Jiayue. A SNP combination and its application in identification of eucalypts clones. Patent No. ZL 2019 1 0180669.6.
Li Fagen, Gan Siming, Jia Cuirong, Weng Qijie, Zhou Changpin. A method for library construction of reduced representation genome sequencing based on double enzyme digestion. Patent No. ZL 2019 1 0665025.6.
