Heitman Lab Members

Sheng Sun Post-Doctoral Fellow 320 CARL Building Box 3546 DUMC Durham, N.C. 27710 Phone: 919.684.3036 Fax: 919.684.5458 Email: sheng.sun@duke.edu

My research mainly focuses on 1) the evolution of mating type locus (MAT) in fungi, with emphasis on Cryptococcus neoformans and its closely related species; 2) signaling pathways underlining sexual reproduction in C. neoformans and C. gattii; and 3) contributions of mitochondrial genomes to the pathogenesis of C. neoformans and C. gattii.

Publications

§ Findley, F., § Sun, S., J.A. Fraser, Y-P Hsueh, A. F. Averette, W. Li, F. S. Dietrich and J. Heitman. (2012) Discovery of a modified tetrapolar sexual cycle in Cryptococcus amylolentus and the evolution of MAT in the Cryptococcus species complex. PLoS Genetics (in press)
§ Equal Contributors

Wang, X., W. Li, S. Sun, L. Kozubowski, S. Lee, M. Feretzaki and J. Heitman. (2011) Know your enemy: how to build and vanquish a global fungal scourge. Mycopathologia (in press)

Min, N., M. Feretzaki, S. Sun, X. Wang and J. Heitman. (2011) Sex in Fungi. Annual Reviews in Genetics 45: 405-431.

Sun, S., B. Metin, K. Findley, A. Fonseca and J. Heitman. (2011) Validation of Kwoniella heveanensis, teleomorph of the basidiomycetous yeast Cryptococcus heveanensis. Mycotaxon 116: 227–229

Sun, S. and J. Heitman. 2011 Is sex necessary? BMC Biology 9: 56. [Commentary]

Rodriguez-Carres, M., K. Findley, S. Sun, F. S. Dietrich and J. Heitma. (2010) Morphological and Genomic Characterization of Filobasidiella depauperata: A Homothallic Sibling Species of the Pathogenic Cryptococcus Species Complex. PLoS One 5: e9620.

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