Y. T. Pilpel

Competitive fungal commensalism mitigates candidiasis pathology

This study identifies a fungal commensal that competes with Candida albicans to reduce its burden and mitigate candidiasis in mice.

Adaptive Mating Among Natural Strains of S. cerevisiae

This study quantifies mating affinity among natural Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains and finds that adaptive mating preferences enhance hybrid fitness.

Fitness landscape analysis of a tRNA gene reveals that the wild type allele is sub-optimal, yet mutationally robust

The paper analyzes a yeast tRNA gene fitness landscape, finding the wild type is sub-optimal and mutationally robust, while fitter variants are mutationally fragile.

Evolutionary safety of death by mutagenesis

The paper assesses the evolutionary safety of antiviral drugs that induce mutagenesis, finding that Molnupiravir is narrowly safe under current parameters and suggests strategies to improve safety.

Phenotype switching of the mutation rate as a strategy for crossing fitness valleys

This paper shows that intermediate mutation rate switching enhances adaptation on rugged fitness landscapes by enabling the crossing of fitness valleys and reducing deleterious mutation accumulation.