Comparative #genomics of Cryptococcus and the sister genus Kwoniella reveal #gene gain and loss associated w/ the #evolution of pathogenesis🧬. Significant variation in #chromosome # and structure, including #centromere loss, were also observed.

Do fungal Starships 🚀 matter for human health? We dive into the pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus and connect the dots between these unusual transposons and strain variability. Spoiler alert: biofilms, secondary metabolites and intra-strain variation, oh my! biorxiv.org/cgi/content/sh…

Check it out: doi.org/10.1101/2024.0… UCIBIO YeastGenomicsLab@NOVA

#Bees #Bacteria #FloralNiche #ConvergentEvolution #MachineLearning #GeneLoss biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Just a few days left for abstract submission for the 2024 edition of the #EMBOEvoEco Workshop (8-11 October 2024 in Heidelberg EMBL Events). Deadline is July 10 - register now! embl.org/about/info/cou…

NEW commentary: I discuss how an #evolution-based screen helped identify a new longevity gene in #insects 🦋🐝🪲🦗 This work highlights how coevolution can help illuminate #gene function & even address a fundamental question - how can we predict gene function? #biology #science

How does protein evolution drives functional innovation? Our latest study, led by Dr. John Crandall, reveals how α-glucoside transporters in yeast evolved through complex interactions, leading to new substrate transport capabilities. biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

NEW Publication (& I'm last author!)😊 We discuss #phylogenomic methods🌲 for leveraging reticulate #evolution🧬 to elucidate the timing of evolutionary events⏱️, like disentangling #introgression from ILS So happy to see my fantastic mentee Saelin get this work out!

Some ancient divergences in #Opisthokonta (animals, fungi & their unicellular pals) remain contentious. Hongyue Liu RokasLab Yuanning Li &co present a genome-scale #phylogeny & establish the geological timeline of #opisthokont diversification #PLOSBiology plos.io/3XrOD6U

See our new article in which we developed an Ontology of Yeast Environments.🌱This hierarchical framework allows for new systematic analyses and insights into the evolution, ecology, and diversity of yeasts!💡onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ye…

Convergent #evolution of #cactophily. Carla Gonçalves RokasLab &co's study of 1,049 #yeast species reveals that across 17 convergent transitions to #cactus-association, adaptive traits evolved independently via disparate molecular mechanisms #PLOSBiology plos.io/4dgQGAu

Exciting weekend for the YeastGenomicsLab at the XXII Jornadas de Biologia de Leveduras! 🎉 Shoutout to Carla Gonçalves , @marg_rsilva , and Ana Pontes for their fantastic presentations, and a special congrats to Ana for winning the Young Researcher Award! 🏆 UCIBIO

Congrats to the Award-Winning Young Researcher Ana Pontes 🥇

NEW Publication!😄 Cactophilic yeasts independently evolved 17 times! #Machine learning predicts cactophily among #yeasts with 76% accuracy and identified strong associations of a cactophilic lifestyle with several traits including thermotolerance &..🥁🥁🥁..#pathogenicity❗️😯

Can we predict if yeast are cactophilic just based on their genomic and metabolic traits?? Find out in this paper by Carla Gonçalves ! 🌵💖🦠

🚨 Exciting research alert! 🚨 Check out the amazing work by Carla Gonçalves with the RokasLab on convergent evolution in cactus-associated yeasts! 🌵#YeastResearch #evolution UCIBIO doi.org/10.1371/journa…

That study of yeast adaptation to growth on cacti that RokasLab just mentioned at #EMBOEvoEco (see Carla Gonçalves' poster!) was recently published in PLOS Biology: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/ar…

🚨 New publication alert! 🚨 Our paper, "Convergent reductive evolution in bee-associated lactic acid bacteria," is now officially published in AppEnvMicro journal ! 🐝🦠 doi.org/10.1128/aem.01… YeastGenomicsLab@NOVA UCIBIO

I have no words. My sister lost her house to the SoCal fire, leaving her family of four with a handful of suitcases and no home. If you are feeling particularly generous, please consider this gofundme gofund.me/3752eb40