Research Field:
Plant Genetics and Evolution

Educational Background:
Oct 2018 – Oct 2019: Washington University in St. Louis, USA, Population Genetics, Joint Ph.D. Training
Sep 2017 – Jun 2021: Nanchang University, Biology, Ph.D.
Sep 2010 – Jun 2013: Nanchang University, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, M.S.
Sep 2006 – Jun 2010: Nanchang University, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, B.S.

Work Experience:
Dec 2023 – Present: Nanchang University, College of Life Sciences, Senior Experimentalist
Sep 2022 – Dec 2023: Nanchang University Teaching Supervision and Evaluation Office, Deputy Director (Secondment)
Sep 2021 – Jun 2024: Nanchang University, College of Life Sciences, Part-time Graduate Student Counselor
Dec 2018 – Dec 2023: Nanchang University, College of Life Sciences, Experimentalist
Sep 2013 – Dec 2018: Nanchang University, College of Life Sciences, Assistant Experimentalist

Courses Taught:
Undergraduate: Bioinformatics, Biostatistics and Experimental Design
Master's: Biostatistics
Ph.D.: Biostatistics and Bioinformatics

Honors and Awards:
First Prize, Nanchang University 2025 Young Faculty Teaching Competition
Population History and Selection Patterns During Soybean Domestication selected as a 2022 Jiangxi Province Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation
Teaching Status Evaluation System for Secondary Colleges Based on Quality Co-governance, Continuous Improvement, and Characteristic Development, awarded First Prize in the 2023 Jiangxi Province Teaching Achievement Awards
"Xiansu Excellent Young Scholar" of the College of Life Sciences

Principal Investigator of Research Projects:

1. National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 3246040056, "Genome-wide miRNA identification in soybean and its role in domestication", Jan 1, 2025 – Dec 31, 2028, ¥320,000, Ongoing, PI.

2. Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation, Grant No. 20242BAB25367, "Identification and preliminary functional analysis of artificially selected miRNA loci during soybean domestication", Jan 1, 2025 – Dec 31, 2027, ¥100,000, Ongoing, PI.

3. Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation, Grant No. 20232BAB215024, "Role of long non-coding RNAs in soybean domestication", Jun 2023 – Jun 2026, ¥100,000, Ongoing, PI.

4. Nanchang University Young Talent Cultivation Project, Grant No. PYQN20230037, "Study on genetic variation patterns and selection modules of regulatory non-coding RNAs during soybean domestication", Jun 2023 – Jun 2026, ¥200,000, Ongoing, PI.

5. National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scholars, Grant No. 31801050, "The role of soft and hard selective sweeps in soybean domestication", Jan 1, 2019 – Dec 31, 2021, ¥230,000, Completed, PI.

Five Representative Research Papers:

1. Kuo, W.H.#, Zhong, L.#, Wright, S. J., Goad, D. M., & Olsen, K. M.. Beyond cyanogenesis: Temperature gradients drive environmental adaptation in North American white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Molecular Ecology, 2024, e17484. (Co-first author; 2/2)

2. Limei Zhong; Youlin Zhu; Kenneth M. Olsen; Wild progenitors provide a sound baseline model for evolutionary analysis of domesticated crop species, Heredity, 2023, 130: 111-113.

3. Xiaoming Zheng#; Limei Zhong#; Hongbo Pang; Siyu Wen; Fei Li; Danjing Lou; Jinyue Ge; Weiya Fan; Tianyi Wang; Zhenyun Han; ...; Lost genome segments associate with trait diversity during rice domestication, BMC Biology, 2023, 21(1). (Co-first author; 2/2)

4. Limei Zhong; Youlin Zhu; Kenneth M. Olsen; Hard versus soft selective sweeps during domestication and improvement in soybean, Molecular Ecology, 2022, 31(11): 3137-3153. 

5. Zhong, Limei; Yang, Qiaomei; Yan, Xin; Yu, Chao; Su, Liu; Zhang, Xifeng; Zhu, Youlin; Signatures of soft sweeps across the Dt1 locus underlying determinate growth habit in soya bean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], Molecular Ecology, 2017, 26(18): 4686-4699.