Scholars@Duke
Marcia David Palma

Marcia David Palma

Research Associate, Senior
Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

Selected Publications

Genomic and phenotypic insights into the expanding phylogenetic landscape of the Cryptococcus genus.

Journal Article PLoS Genet · November 10, 2025 The fungal genus Cryptococcus includes several life-threatening human pathogens as well as diverse saprobic species whose genome architecture, ecology, and evolutionary history remain less well characterized. Understanding how some lineages evolved into ma ... Full text Link to item Cite

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy enables rapid species discrimination across Malassezia and strain-level typing in M. pachydermatis.

Journal Article bioRxiv · September 25, 2025 Malassezia pachydermatis is a zoophilic yeast found on the skin and in the outer ear canal of many mammals. It normally maintains a commensal lifestyle but can cause dermatitis and otitis in predisposed hosts, particularly in atopic dogs. M. pachydermatis ... Full text Link to item Cite

Fungal sexual reproduction and mating-type loci.

Journal Article Curr Biol · June 9, 2025 Sexual reproduction is a hallmark of eukaryotes, generating diversity and variation through recombination and allele segregation, thereby facilitating natural selection. Unlike animals and plants, fungi do not have conventional male and female sexes but in ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Comparative genomics of the closely related fungal genera Cryptococcus and Kwoniella reveals karyotype dynamics and suggests evolutionary mechanisms of pathogenesis.

Journal Article PLoS Biol · June 2024 In exploring the evolutionary trajectories of both pathogenesis and karyotype dynamics in fungi, we conducted a large-scale comparative genomic analysis spanning the Cryptococcus genus, encompassing both global human fungal pathogens and nonpathogenic spec ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Frequent transitions in mating-type locus chromosomal organization in Malassezia and early steps in sexual reproduction.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · August 8, 2023 Featured Publication Fungi in the basidiomycete genus Malassezia are the most prevalent eukaryotic microbes resident on the skin of human and other warm-blooded animals and have been implicated in skin diseases and systemic disorders. Analysis of Malassezia genomes revealed th ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Frequent transitions in mating-type locus chromosomal organization in Malassezia and early steps in sexual reproduction.

Journal Article bioRxiv · June 9, 2023 UNLABELLED: Fungi in the basidiomycete genus Malassezia are the most prevalent eukaryotic microbes resident on the skin of human and other warm-blooded animals and have been implicated in skin diseases and systemic disorders. Analysis of Malassezia genomes ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Obligate sexual reproduction of a homothallic fungus closely related to the Cryptococcus pathogenic species complex.

Journal Article Elife · June 17, 2022 Featured Publication eLife digest. Fungi are enigmatic organisms that flourish in soil, on decaying plants, or during infection of animals or plants. Growing in myriad forms, from single-celled yeast to multicellular molds and mushrooms, fungi have also evolved ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Multiple Pathways to Homothallism in Closely Related Yeast Lineages in the Basidiomycota.

Journal Article mBio · February 16, 2021 Featured Publication Sexual reproduction in fungi relies on proteins with well-known functions encoded by the mating type (MAT) loci. In the Basidiomycota, MAT loci are often bipartite, with the P/R locus encoding pheromone precursors and pheromone receptors and the HD locus e ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

The Untapped Australasian Diversity of Astaxanthin-Producing Yeasts with Biotechnological Potential-Phaffia australis sp. nov. and Phaffia tasmanica sp. nov.

Journal Article Microorganisms · October 24, 2020 Featured Publication Phaffia is an orange-colored basidiomycetous yeast genus of the order Cystofilobasidiales that contains a single species, P. rhodozyma. This species is the only fungus known to produce the economically relevant carotenoid astaxanthin. Although Phaffia was ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

The Evolution of Sexual Reproduction and the Mating-Type Locus: Links to Pathogenesis of Cryptococcus Human Pathogenic Fungi.

Journal Article Annu Rev Genet · December 3, 2019 Cryptococcus species utilize a variety of sexual reproduction mechanisms, which generate genetic diversity, purge deleterious mutations, and contribute to their ability to occupy myriad environmental niches and exhibit a range of pathogenic potential. The ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Genetic and genomic evolution of sexual reproduction: echoes from LECA to the fungal kingdom.

Journal Article Curr Opin Genet Dev · October 2019 Sexual reproduction is vastly diverse and yet highly conserved across the eukaryotic domain. This ubiquity suggests that the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) was sexual. It is hypothesized that several critical processes in sexual reproduction, inclu ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Comparative genomics provides new insights into the diversity, physiology, and sexuality of the only industrially exploited tremellomycete: Phaffia rhodozyma.

Journal Article BMC Genomics · November 9, 2016 Featured Publication BACKGROUND: The class Tremellomycete (Agaricomycotina) encompasses more than 380 fungi. Although there are a few edible Tremella spp., the only species with current biotechnological use is the astaxanthin-producing yeast Phaffia rhodozyma (Cystofilobasidia ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Genetic Dissection of Sexual Reproduction in a Primary Homothallic Basidiomycete.

Journal Article PLoS genetics · June 2016 Featured Publication In fungi belonging to the phylum Basidiomycota, sexual compatibility is usually determined by two genetically unlinked MAT loci, one of which encodes one or more pheromone receptors (P/R) and pheromone precursors, and the other comprehends at least one pai ... Full text Open Access Cite

Global distribution, diversity hot spots and niche transitions of an astaxanthin-producing eukaryotic microbe.

Journal Article Molecular ecology · February 2014 Featured Publication Microbes establish very diverse but still poorly understood associations with other microscopic or macroscopic organisms that do not follow the more conventional modes of competition or mutualism. Phaffia rhodozyma, an orange-coloured yeast that produces t ... Full text Open Access Cite

My Word MyShroom

Scholarly Edition Malassezia ... Open Access Link to item Cite