Awarding ceremony of “Yunnan Science & Technology Prize 2019” was held in Kunming on July 9, 2020. Among the prize winners, Prof. Yu Diqiu of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) was honored with the first prize of Yunnan Provincial Natural Science Awards. Prof. Zhu Hua of XTBG won the third prize of Yunnan Provincial Natural Science Award.

Among the 5 first prize winners, Prof. Yu Diqiu’s team (including Prof. Yu Diqiu, Chen Ligang, Hu Yanru and Jiang Yanjuan) of XTBG ranked first. They won the first prize for accomplishing the study of “Molecular mechanism of WRKY proteins in plant resistance formation through phytohormone pathways “. They made breakthroughs and got research results published in such famous journals as PNAS, Plant Cell, Plant Physiology, Molecular Plant, etc.

Prof. Zhu Hua of XTBG was honored with the third prize of Yunnan Provincial Natural Science Award for accomplishing “Origin and evolution of the flora of Yunnan”. Based on geological events inYunnan since the Tertiary，Zhu Hua investigated the possible origin and evolution of Yunnan flora from the view of floristic biogeography．It was revealed that the flora of Yunnan might be derived from tropical － subtropical Tertiary flora of East Asia，with later divergence．

In addition, two programs with XTBG scientists as major participants were conferred the second prize of Yunnan Provincial Natural Science Award and Yunnan Provincial Science & Technology Progress Award respectively.