I’m Hao, a PhD student at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, working in SyM Lab at SIAT, Shenzhen.
I study genome mining for natural-product discovery, using comparative genomics and sequence analysis to connect microbial gene clusters with their small-molecule products. My interests also include protein language models and biosynthetic mechanisms.
Using lipid-donor biosynthesis as a genomic starting point, our study identified the dxp gene-cluster family and linked it to a new group of antibacterial lipopeptides.
My contribution: Biosynthetic gene-cluster analysis.
Our work uncovered a ketoreductase domain that releases a fungal polyketide chain, revealing an unusual route to the salicylaldehyde scaffold.
Current Opinion in Microbiology
ChemMedChem · Co-first author
The shared genome-mining workflow accompanying our dioxanopeptin paper. Retrieve genomic neighborhoods, annotate BGCs and prioritize candidates with antiSMASH and cblaster.