Joey Spatafora's research group addresses patterns and processes that function in shaping fungal evolution. His group is particularly interested in genomic evolution of primary and secondary metabolism that is associated with adaptations to and emergence of novel fungal ecologies. Current research is particularly focused on understanding fungal-animal-bacterial associations and interactions in the reptile and amphibian gut microbiome and the potential role of fungi in this common but poorly understood system.
Upcoming PMB Seminars
For a schedule of all Plant & Microbial Biology events, seminars, and lectures visit our calendar.
Taylor-White Lecture: Joseph Spatafora
Speaker: Joseph Spatafora, Professor, Oregon State University
Lecture details to come.
Eco-evolutionary processes of assembly in wild microbial communities
Speaker: Jennifer B.H. Martiny, Professor, University of California Irvine
The assembly of microbial communities is likely influenced by both ecological and evolutionary processes. At one end of the spectrum, the composition of microbial communities (assessed at broad taxonomic levels) dramatically shifts in response to environmental changes. At the other end, laboratory studies demonstrate the potential for rapid evolution in response to the similar environmental changes. In between these two extremes, closely related microbial strains coexist in natural communities, and this standing variation results in allele frequency shifts within microbial taxa. New advances in microbial population genomics allow us to investigate these blurry eco-evo boundaries. I will present our recent approaches to investigate ecological and evolutionary processes simultaneously in soil microbial communities.
PMB Seminar with Ben Kerr
Speaker: Ben Kerr, Professor, University of Washington
Seminar details to come.
Breaking down non-host resistance to better understand the plant immunity system
Speaker: Shunyuan Xiao, Professor, University of Maryland
Plants have evolved effective immune mechanisms to fight off various (potential) pathogens. The complete resistance of all genotypes of a plant species against any non-adapted pathogens is defined as non-host resistance (NHR). A prime example of NHR is rice's immunity against all rust and powdery mildew fungi. Because NHR is robust and durable, its potential application in improving resistance against adapted pathogens in crops has long been envisioned. However, this potential has not been explored because the molecular basis of NHR remains poorly characterized due to its high genetic complexity and lack of intraspecific genetic variation. To genetically dissect NHR, a combinatory approach that includes stepwise forward and reverse genetic screens has been taken to break down NHR of Arabidopsis against non-adapted and evolutionarily distant powdery mildew species. Our recent efforts have led to the identification of several novel immunity genes that contribute to NHR at both penetration and post-penetration stages. A higher-order Arabidopsis mutant fully susceptible to barley and powdery mildew has been obtained and used for screening mutants susceptible to rust pathogens. Similar research is being conducted in rice and wheat through collaborations. A complete dissection of NHR may improve our understanding of the multi-layered plant immune system and inspire novel strategies to boost crop resistance against adapted pathogens.
Unraveling mechanisms behind Salmonella persistence in a mouse model
Speaker: Denise M. Monack, Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
Seminar details to come.
Past PMB Seminars
Prime Editing enables engineering crop disease resistance
Speaker: Bing Yang, Professor, University of Missouri, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Genome editing as an enabling tool has been revolutionizing the ways scientists advance basic understanding of biology and speed up application in medicine and agriculture. Creating and breeding broad-spectrum disease resistance to elite crops is critical to sustainable agriculture. Prime Editing, as one of CRISPR-based genome editing technologies, offers advantages over other relatives with precise and efficient installation of small deletion, insertion and all 12 base conversions in the genome of interest. For some plant diseases, pathogens use diverse virulence mechanisms to exploit host susceptibility genes, while plants evolve resistance by counteracting pathogen infection. We apply Prime Editing to recapitulate the genetic variations to achieve disease resistance and broad-spectrum resistance through multiplex editing in rice.
Kustu Lecture: Fun Times with Fungi: What the Clock of a Fungus can Teach Us about the Importance of a Healthy Circadian Rhythm
Speaker: Jennifer Hurley, Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Circadian rhythms are highly conserved, 24-hour, oscillations that tune physiology to the day/night cycle, enhancing fitness by ensuring that appropriate activities occur at biologically advantageous times. Circadian rhythms are a phenomenon that exist across the tree of life and throughout biological scales, with broadly conserved atomic-level timekeepers enhancing fitness at the organismal level. Chronic disruption of proper circadian synchronization negatively impacts organisms throughout the kingdom of life, from disrupting metabolic networks in fungi to increasing the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) in humans. The paradigm for circadian regulation over physiology was that transcriptional programing via a transcription-translation based negative feedback loop (TTFL), or “clock”, drives temporally specific waves of gene expression to time cellular processes. However, using systems biological approaches in fungi, we have demonstrated that transcriptional programing from the TTFL cannot completely account for cellular circadian regulation. Our work has also begun to demonstrate the proteins involved in the repressive arm of the TTFL, enabled by their regions of protein disorder, act as “hub” proteins for the formation of large macromolecular complexes to impart circadian post-transcriptional regulation. Finally, we have used systems biology approaches to show that circadian post-transcriptional regulation tightly controls metabolism, affecting both fungal physiology and the mammalian immune response, the disruption of which increases the severity of ADRD symptoms. Our across-scales approach to studying circadian rhythms using fungi elucidates the fundamental principles of circadian timing, revealing the mechanisms of circadian control over molecular, cellular, and organismal physiology.
Book Talk: Most Delicious Poison by Noah Whiteman
Author: Noah Whiteman, Professor of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution and Development, UC Berkeley
Speaker: Michael Silver, Professor of Optometry and Vision Science and Neuroscience, UC Berkeley
Noah Whiteman is Professor of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution and Development in the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. His new book is Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature's Toxins—From Spices to Vices, published in 2023. Professor Whiteman will be speaking about his book and research, followed by a conversation with Professor Michael Silver and audience Q&A.