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Research Topic
I am currently interested in the molecular characterization of sex-determining regions in fungi and how its genomic
architecture shapes the evolution mating type systems. Particular focus has been given to a group of saprobic
red-pigmented yeasts that share phylogenetic proximity with important groups of plant pathogens (e.g. rust fungi),
which together belong to an early derived lineage in the Basidiomycota (Pucciniomycotina). Our recent work in red
yeasts brought to light a novel mating system (pseudo-bipolar) that differs from the two mating paradigms, the
bipolar and tetrapolar systems. This resulted in the proposal of revised model for the evolution of mating systems
in Basidiomycota, which is presently being refined using a more detailed comparative genomics approach. I am also
interested to shed some light on the evolutionary relationship between sexual and apparently asexual red yeast species
coexisting in the same phylogenetic lineage both from a phylogenetic and genomic perspective.
Funding
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PTDC/BIA-GEN/112799/2009 (PI Paula Gonçalves – FCT)
“Comparative genomics approach to unravelling a new sexual reproduction system in fungi”
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SFRH/BPD/79198/2011 (Post-doc fellowship – FCT)
Research Team
Paula Gonçalves (PI Functional and Comparative Genomics of Yeasts)
José Paulo Sampaio (PI Evolutionary Ecology, CREM)
Marco A. Coelho (Post doc)
Márcia Palma (PhD student)
Recent publications
Coelho MA*, Sampaio JP, Gonçalves P (2013). Living and thriving on the skin: Malassezia genomes tell the story.
mBio 4(2): e00117-13. doi:10.1128/mBio.00117-13
*corresponding author
Coelho MA, Gonçalves C, Sampaio JP, Gonçalves P (2013). Extensive intra-kingdom horizontal gene transfer converging on a fungal
fructose transporter gene. PLoS Genet. 9(6): e1003587. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1003587.
Gomes-Rezende JA, Gomes-Alves AG, Menino JF, Coelho MA, Ludovico P, Paula Gonçalves, Mark H. J. Sturme, Fernando Rodrigues
(2012). Functionality of the Paracoccidioides Mating a-Pheromone-Receptor System. PLoS ONE 7(10): e47033.
Petit E, Giraud T, de Vienne DM, Coelho MA, Aguileta G, Amselem J, Kreplak J, Poulain J, Gavory F, Wincker P, Young SK,
Cuomo CA, Perlin MH, and Hood ME (2012). Linkage to the mating-type locus across the genus Microbotryum: Insights into
non-recombining chromosomes. Evolution. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01703.x.
Coelho MA, Gonçalves P, Sampaio JP (2011). Evidence for maintenance of sex determinants but not of sexual stages in
red yeasts, a group of early-diverged basidiomycetes. BMC Evol Biol 11:249.
Berraf-Tebbal, A, Bouznad Z, Santos JM, Coelho MA, Péros JP, Phillips AJL (2011). Phaeoacremonium species
associated with Eutypa dieback and esca of grapevines in Algeria. Phytopathologia Mediterranea. 50S:86-97.
Coelho MA, Sampaio JP and Gonçalves P (2010). A deviation from the bipolar-tetrapolar mating paradigm in an
early-diverged basidiomycete. PLoS Genet. 6(8): e1001052.
Coelho MA, Almeida JMF, Martins IM, da Silva AJ and Sampaio JP (2010). The dynamics of the yeast community of the
Tagus river estuary: testing the hypothesis of the multiple origins of estuarine yeast. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 98(3):331-342.
Coelho MA, Rosa Á, Rodrigues N, Fonseca Á and Gonçalves P (2008). Identification of mating type genes in the bipolar
basidiomycetous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides: first insight into the MAT locus structure of the Sporidiobolales.
Eukaryot Cell 7(6):1053-1061.
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