The trial lecture is: "Emerging fungal diseases on animals".
Time and place: June 19, 2023 10:15 AM, Zoom and Nucleus, Bikuben, The Kristine Bonnevie building.
The events will also be live streamed using Zoom. The host of the session will moderate the technicalities while the chair of the defence will moderate the events.
The events opens for participation just before they start, and closes for new participants approximately 15 minutes after it has begun.
Main research findings
Evolution has brought to life an immense diversity of forms, lifestyles and species in the fungi. Yet our knowledge about how this diversity has been generated remains sparse. I have taken a closer look at evolution in a group of wood decay fungi in genus Trichaptum, with the aim of gaining more insight about the speciation process in fungi. Trichaptum species are common, easy to culture, and can be crossed in the lab. Moreover, they have varying degrees of reproductive barriers, and these attributes make them suitable for speciation studies as the development of reproductive barriers is central to the speciation process. I have established a comprehensive culture collection that have been put through crossing experiments and whole genome DNA sequencing to investigate the evolutionary history of different Trichaptum lineages and the genetic causes of their reproductive barriers. Analyses of the sequenced genomes revealed multiple hybridization events, which speaks to the importance of reticulate evolution in these fungi. The studies cover evolution in genus Trichaptum at multiple scales, from the relatively recent changes occurring within Europe in T. abietinum, to changes that have happened between continents and distinctly differentiated species across larger time spans. Altogether this work demonstrates how multiple evolutionary forces across different temporal and genetic scales have interacted to shape the current diversity and genomic landscape in Trichaptum.
Adjudication committee
Professor Hanna Johannesson, Stockholm University
Professor Duur Aanen, Wagening University
Associate Professor Bastiaan Star, University of Oslo
Chair of defence
Professor Anne Krag Brysting, University of Oslo
Supervisors
Associate Professor Inger Skrede, University of Oslo
Professor Håvard Kauserud, University of Oslo
Researcher David Peris Navarro, University of Oslo & Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (Valencia, Spain)
Assistant Professor Mark Ravinet, University of Nottingham
Researcher Sundy Maurice, University of Oslo
Associate Professor Jørn Henrik Sønstebø, University of South-Eastern Norway
Professor Glenn-Peter Sætre, University of Oslo