J. W. Spatafora

Effects of environmental setting and diet on the gut microbial ecology of eastern hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis)

This study examines how zoo management and diet affect the gut microbiome of eastern hellbenders, finding that wild diets and release into natural habitats can restore microbial communities closer to wild-type patterns.

Herptile gut microbiomes: a natural system to study multi-kingdom interactions between filamentous fungi and bacteria

This paper investigates the gut microbiomes of herptiles, showing that Basidiobolus fungi are common and interact with bacteria, potentially shaping bacterial communities through horizontal gene transfer.

Taxonomic vs genomic fungi: contrasting evolutionary loss of protistan genomic heritage and emergence of fungal novelties

This study analyzes gene family evolution across 123 fungal and related genomes to show gradual protist gene loss and episodic innovation in early fungal evolution.

Divergent evolution of early terrestrial fungi reveals the evolution of Mucormycosis pathogenicity factors

This study investigates the divergent evolution of zygomycete fungi, identifying lineage-specific genomic elements and evolutionary relationships that contribute to Mucormycosis pathogenicity.

Genome-scale phylogenetic analyses confirm Olpidium as the closest living zoosporic fungus to the non-flagellated, terrestrial fungi

The paper uses genome and transcriptome data from Olpidium to analyze its phylogenetic position relative to non-flagellated terrestrial fungi, finding it as the closest zoosporic relative.

A genome-scale phylogeny of Fungi; insights into early evolution, radiations, and the relationship between taxonomy and phylogeny

The paper constructs a genome-scale fungal phylogeny using 1,644 species and multiple data matrices, finding robust relationships and identifying taxonomic discrepancies.