Xuan Zhuang
University of Arkansas, AR·Genetics·Early-career
Most traits that matter, from body size to metabolism to disease risk, are shaped by many genes acting together with the environment. Some genetic differences stay silent under ordinary conditions and only reveal their effects when conditions change; these are called cryptic genetic variation.
- Fields
Genetics
Ecology & Evolution
Biology
- Topics
cryptic genetic variation
complex traits
gene-environment interaction
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Jun 2031
What they work on
- Identify precursor sequences and mechanisms of gene birth for type I antifreeze proteins by comparing genomes of AFPI-bearing fishes with close relatives that lack these ice-binding genes.
- Reconstruct how new antifreeze genes became integrated into existing gene networks by mapping gene expression, open chromatin, histone-marked regulatory regions and promoter-enhancer interactions.
- Test how natural selection shaped antifreeze gene family expansion, contraction, retention, pseudogenization and loss, using broad taxonomic sampling and phylogenetic analyses.
- Map cryptic genetic variation and gene-by-diet interactions for high-sugar-diet-induced metabolic and developmental traits in Drosophila, using a new mapping resource built from advanced intercross populations.
- Use the metabolome, the full set of small-molecule metabolites, as an intermediate phenotype to link mapped genetic variants to organismal traits and build genome-metabolome-phenome interaction networks.
- Identify cryptic genetic modifiers and gene-gene interactions by introducing an inducible genetic defect into many genomic backgrounds of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel and profiling the transcriptome.
- Evaluate phenotypic variation, heritability, genetic correlations and pleiotropy among metabolic, developmental and mitochondrial traits in Drosophila populations exposed to extreme dietary conditions.
More about the research
Work here attacks the genotype-to-phenotype problem from two directions: pushing laboratory organisms with dietary or genetic stress to expose hidden variation, and reading the genomes of wild populations that have adapted to extreme environments. Fruit flies and polar fishes serve as the two main systems, and layered molecular data tie genes to traits.
Why it matters
Genetic variants that stay hidden under normal conditions complicate the search for the causes of complex human disease. Because many metabolic pathways are shared between flies and people, mapping how diet unmasks such variation could highlight candidate genes and regulatory networks relevant to metabolic disease and precision medicine. The fish antifreeze work adds basic understanding of how new genes and functions originate, knowledge relevant to biotechnology and to interpreting genomes.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
CAREER: Exploring New Gene Emergence and Functional Innovation through the Genetic Origins, Regulatory Integration, and Evolutionary Trajectories of Fish Antifreeze Proteins
NSF · Jul 2026 – Jun 2031
Decoding Gene-Environment Interactions in Complex Traits via Multi-Omics Approaches
NIH · Sep 2025 – Jun 2030
Dissecting cryptic genetic variation underlying complex traits in Drosophila
NIH · Sep 2023 – Aug 2027
Closest labs
Mark Phillips
Oregon State University, OR·Ecology & Evolution
Identify factors that drive differences in rates of senescence, or biological aging, by applying metabolomic profiling and 3D electron microscopy to fruit fly populations evolved with very different lifespans and life histories.
Patricia Wittkopp
University of Michigan, MI·Genetics
Identify the genes and specific DNA changes behind trait differences within and between fruit fly (Drosophila) species, and determine how they alter molecular, cellular and developmental processes.
Lena Hileman
University of Kansas, KS·Ecology & Evolution
Confirm about twenty genomic regions that distinguish bee- from hummingbird-pollinated Penstemon species, using genome-wide association mapping to link them to floral syndrome traits.
The school
University of Arkansas: 12 labs on PI Pages, $231M a year on research, 179 research doctorates a year.
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