Julian Liber

Journal article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · June 2, 2026 Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen of humans that causes life-threatening meningoencephalitis. During infection, enlarged, polyploid titan cells are produced that promote persistence in the host, in part by resisting phagocytosis; under stress co ... Full text Link to item Cite

Aimea gen. nov. defines a novel plant-associated yeast genus in Microbotryomycetes with three novel species.

Journal article bioRxiv · April 10, 2026 Plant tissues and surfaces are among the largest microbial habitats on Earth, and commensal yeasts are common members of these communities, where they can contribute to plant-microbe interactions including the biological control of plant diseases. Here, we ... Full text Link to item Cite

Microbial community succession and dynamics during the season-long development of apple fruit (<i>Malus</i> × <i>domestica</i>).

Journal article Microbiology spectrum · April 2026 Microorganisms colonize every external and internal surface of plants, including fruits. Relatively little is known about the fruit microbiome and its role in disease resistance and fruit quality during fruit development and storage. The fruit tissue, the ... Full text Cite

Meiosis-specific genes play roles in ploidy reduction in Cryptococcus neoformans titan cells.

Journal article bioRxiv · September 18, 2025 Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen of humans that causes life-threatening meningoencephalitis. During infection, enlarged, polyploid titan cells are produced that promote survival, evade immune cells, and generate diverse progeny. These titan cel ... Full text Link to item Cite

Monitoring the impact of confinement on hyphal penetration and fungal behavior.

Journal article PloS one · January 2024 Through their expansive mycelium network, soil fungi alter the physical arrangement and chemical composition of their local environment. This can significantly impact bacterial distribution and nutrient transport and can play a dramatic role in shaping the ... Full text Cite

Comparative genomics of Mollicutes-related endobacteria supports a late invasion into Mucoromycota fungi.

Journal article Communications biology · September 2023 Diverse members of early-diverging Mucoromycota, including mycorrhizal taxa and soil-associated Mortierellaceae, are known to harbor Mollicutes-related endobacteria (MRE). It has been hypothesized that MRE were acquired by a common ancestor and transmitted ... Full text Cite

Phyllosphere Microbiome.

Journal article Annual review of plant biology · May 2023 The aboveground parts of terrestrial plants are colonized by a variety of microbes that collectively constitute the phyllosphere microbiota. Decades of pioneering work using individual phyllosphere microbes, including commensals and pathogens, have provide ... Full text Cite

Maple and hickory leaf litter fungal communities reflect pre-senescent leaf communities.

Journal article PeerJ · January 2022 Fungal communities are known to contribute to the functioning of living plant microbiomes as well as to the decay of dead plant material and affect vital ecosystem services, such as pathogen resistance and nutrient cycling. Yet, factors that drive structur ... Full text Open Access Cite

Linnemannia elongata (Mortierellaceae) stimulates Arabidopsis thaliana aerial growth and responses to auxin, ethylene, and reactive oxygen species.

Journal article PloS one · January 2022 Harnessing the plant microbiome has the potential to improve agricultural yields and protect plants against pathogens and/or abiotic stresses, while also relieving economic and environmental costs of crop production. While previous studies have gained valu ... Full text Open Access Cite

CONSTAX2: improved taxonomic classification of environmental DNA markers.

Journal article Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) · November 2021 SummaryCONSTAX-the CONSensus TAXonomy classifier-was developed for accurate and reproducible taxonomic annotation of fungal rDNA amplicon sequences and is based upon a consensus approach of RDP, SINTAX and UTAX algorithms. CONSTAX2 extends these f ... Full text Open Access Cite

Harvesting Microalgae for Food and Energy Products

Journal article Small Methods · October 1, 2020 Microalgae are promising biological factories for diverse natural products. Microalgae tout high productivity, and their biomass has value in industrial products ranging from biofuels, feedstocks, food additives, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and as alternat ... Full text Open Access Cite

Resolving the Mortierellaceae phylogeny through synthesis of multi-gene phylogenetics and phylogenomics.

Journal article Fungal diversity · September 2020 Early efforts to classify Mortierellaceae were based on macro- and micromorphology, but sequencing and phylogenetic studies with ribosomal DNA (rDNA) markers have demonstrated conflicting taxonomic groupings and polyphyletic genera. Although some taxonomic ... Full text Open Access Cite

Mycoplasma-related endobacteria within Mortierellomycotina fungi: diversity, distribution and functional insights into their lifestyle.

Journal article The ISME journal · June 2018 Bacterial interactions with animals and plants have been examined for over a century; by contrast, the study of bacterial-fungal interactions has received less attention. Bacteria interact with fungi in diverse ways, and endobacteria that reside inside fun ... Full text Open Access Cite

Two new endophytic Atractiellomycetes, Atractidochium hillariae and Proceropycnis hameedii.

Journal article Mycologia · January 2018 Sterile fungal isolates are often recovered in leaf and root endophytic studies, although these seldom play a significant role in downstream analyses. The authors sought to identify and characterize two such endophytes-one representing the most commonly re ... Full text Open Access Cite