Xiaorong Lin received her B.E. degree in Chemical Engineering from Dalian University of Technology and her M.E. degrees in Biochemical Engineering from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. After she obtained her Ph.D. degree in fungal biology from the University of Georgia in 2003, she worked as a postdoctoral follow at Duke University Medical Center supported by the Molecular Mycology and Pathogenesis Training Program (MMPTP). She joined the Department of Biology at Texas A&M University in January 2008. She currently serves as an academic editor for the journal PLoS ONE.

Lab Website

Xiaorong Lin
Assistant Professor

3258 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-3258

Office:
Biological Sciences Building West
Room 435D
979-845-7274

Lab:
Biological Sciences Building West
Room 435
979-845-7259

Fax: 979-845-2891
Email: xlin@mail.bio.tamu.edu

About 100,000 fungal species have been identified so far and 1.5 million are estimated to exist. Yet only few fungi are known to cause severe systemic infection in humans and most of them are environmental pathogens that do not require animal hosts to complete their life cycle. My research interests concern: (1) how do these few fungi evolve to be pathogenic, (2) what are the molecular mechanisms governing their virulence, and (3) how morphological differentiation impacts on fungal virulence.

My laboratory studies two environmental pathogens that represent the two major phyla in the fungal kingdom: Aspergillus fumigatus, an ascomycetous filamentous fungus causing allergies and invasive aspergillosis, and Cryptococcus neoformans, a basidiomycetous dimorphic yeast causing pneumonia and cryptococcal meningitis. Both pathogens infect mostly immunocomprised individuals (AIDS patients, transplant patients, cancer patients, and individuals under immunosuppressive therapy) and cause diseases with high mortality rates even with aggressive current antifungal treatment. The difficulty in curing fungal infections is also in part due to the development of antifungal-drug resistance. There is urgent need to understand fungal virulence and identify new antifungal drug targets.

My laboratory uses a combination of microscopic, genetic, and molecular biology approaches to gain insights into the molecular bases of fungal virulence and differentiation, with the goal of seeking better approach for diagnosis, therapy, and prevention of fungal diseases.

Lin X. (2009) Cryptococcus neoformans: morphogenesis, infection, and evolution.    Infection, Genetics and Evolution. in press.

Jackson J, Higgins L, and Lin X. (2009) Conidiation color mutants of Aspergillus fumigatus are highly pathogenic to the heterologous insect host Galleria mellonella. PLoS ONE.4(1), e4224 (1-14).

Lin X, Patel S, Litvintseva A, Floyd A, Mitchell TG, and Heitman J.  (2009) Diploids in the Cryptococcus neoformans serotype Apopulation homozygous for the mating type originate via unisexual mating. PLoS Pathogens. 5(1), e1000283 (1-18).

Lin X, Nielsen K, Patel S, and Heitman J. (2008) Impact of mating type, serotype, and ploidy on virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans. Infection and Immunity. 76(7):2923-38.

Rutherford J, Lin X, Nielson K, and Heitman J. (2008) The Amt2 permease is required to induce ammonium responsive invasive growth and mating in Cryptococcus neoformans. Eukaryotic Cell. 7(2):237-46

Lin X, Litvintseva A, Nielsen K, Patel S, Kapadia Z, Floyd A, Mitchell TG, and Heitman J. (2007) αADα hybrid strains: evidence of hybrid vigor and same sex mating of Cryptococcus neoformans in nature. PLoS Genetics. 3(10):1975-90.

Litvintseva A, Lin X, Templeton I, Heitman J, and Mitchell T. (2007) Many globally isolated AD hybrid strains of Cryptococcus neoformans originated in Africa. PLoS Pathogens. 3(8):e114 (1-9).

Lin X and Heitman J. (2007) Mechanisms of homothallism in fungi and transitions between heterothallism and homothallism in Sex in fungi: molecular determination and evolutionary implications, edited by J. Heitman, J. Kronstad, J. Taylor and L. A. Casselton. American Society of Microbiology.

Lin X, Huang J, Mitchell T, and Heitman J. (2006) Virulence attributes and hyphal growth of Cryptococcus neoformans are quantitative traits and the MATα allele enhances filamentation. PLoS Genetics. 2(11): e187 (1-14).

Lin X and Heitman J. (2006) The biology of Cryptococcus neoformans species complex. Annual Review of Microbiology. 60: 60-105.

Lin X, Hull CM, and Heitman J. (2005) Sexual reproduction between partners of the same mating-type in Cryptococcus neoformans. Nature. 434: 1017-21.

Lin X and Heitman J. (2005) Chlamydospore formation during hyphal growth in Cryptococcus neoformans. Eukaryotic Cell. 4(10):1746-54

Idnurn A, Bahn YS, Nielsen K, Lin X, Fraser JA, and Heitman J. (2005) Deciphering the model pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. Nature Reviews Microbiology. 3(10): 753-64.

Lin X and Momany M. (2004) Characterization of abnormal hyphal branching mutants ahbA1 and ahbB1 in Aspergillus nidulans. Fungal Genetics and Biology. 41(11): 998-1006.

Guest G, Lin X, and Momany, M. (2004) The Rho1 homolog of Aspergillus nidulans is required for polar growth, branching and cell wall morphogenesis. Fungal Genetics and Biology. 41: 13-22.

Lin X and Momany M. (2003) The Aspergillus nidulans swoC1 mutant shows defects in growth and development. Genetics. 165: 543-54.

Lin X, Momany C, and Momany, M. (2003) SwoHp, nucleoside diphosphate kinase, is essential in Aspergillus nidulans. Eukaryotic Cell. 2: 1169–1177.