The Yang Lab asks questions about the patterns and drivers of plant divergence and convergence. ​We combine field and collection-based approaches with transcriptomics and genomics to study polyploidy, reticulate evolution, and gene families involved in pigmentation, plant carnivory, and stress tolerance.

Brockington S.F.*, Y. Yang*, F. Gandia-Herrero, S. Covshoff, J.M. Hibberd, R.F. Sage, G.K.-S. Wong, M.J. Moore and S.A. Smith. 2016. Lineage specific gene radiations underly the evolution of novel betalain pigmentation in Caryophyllales. New Phytologist. 207(4) 1170–1180 *Co-first author.

Yang, Y., M.J. Moore, S.F. Brockington, D.E. Soltis, G.K.-S. Wong, E.J. Carpenter, Y. Zhang, L. Chen, Z.-X. Yan, Y.-L. Xie, R.F. Sage, S. Covshoff, J.M. Hibberd, M.N. Nelson, and S.A. Smith. Dissecting molecular evolution in the highly diverse plant clade Caryophyllales using transcriptome sequencing. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 32(8): 2001-2014.

Yang, Y. and S.A. Smith. 2014. Orthology inference in non-model organisms using transcriptomes and low-coverage genomes: improving accuracy and matrix occupancy for phylogenomics. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 31 (11): 3081–3092

Yang, Y., R. Riina, J.J. Morawetz, T. Haevermans, X. Aubriot and P.E. Berry. 2012. Molecular phylogenetics and classification of Euphorbia subgenus Chamaesyce: a group with high diversity in photosynthetic systems and growth forms. Taxon 61(4):764–789

Yang, Y. and P.E. Berry. 2011. Phylogenetics of the Chamaesyce clade (Euphorbia, Euphorbiaceae): reticulate evolution and long-distance dispersal in a prominent C4 lineage. American Journal of Botany 98(9):1486–1503

2012–2016 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2012 Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2005 B.S. in Biology, Peking University