Scholars@Duke
Vikas Yadav

Vikas Yadav

Research Associate, Senior
Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

Selected Publications

Distinct evolutionary trajectories following loss of RNA interference in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · November 19, 2024 While increased mutation rates typically have negative consequences in multicellular organisms, hypermutation can be advantageous for microbes adapting to the environment. Previously, we identified two hypermutator Cryptococcus neoformans clinical isolates ... Full text Link to item Cite

Calcineurin contributes to RNAi-mediated transgene silencing and small interfering RNA production in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Genetics · March 6, 2024 Adaptation to external environmental challenges at the cellular level requires rapid responses and involves relay of information to the nucleus to drive key gene expression changes through downstream transcription factors. Here, we describe an alternative ... Full text Link to item Cite

On the evolution of variation in sexual reproduction through the prism of eukaryotic microbes.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · March 7, 2023 Almost all eukaryotes undergo sexual reproduction to generate diversity and select for fitness in their population pools. Interestingly, the systems by which sex is defined are highly diverse and can even differ between evolutionarily closely related speci ... Full text Link to item Cite

Genome-wide analysis of heat stress-stimulated transposon mobility in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus deneoformans.

Journal Article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · January 2023 We recently reported transposon mutagenesis as a significant driver of spontaneous mutations in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus deneoformans during murine infection. Mutations caused by transposable element (TE) insertion into reporter genes ... Full text Cite

Uncontrolled transposition following RNAi loss causes hypermutation and antifungal drug resistance in clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Nat Microbiol · August 2022 Cryptococcus neoformans infections cause approximately 15% of AIDS-related deaths owing to a combination of limited antifungal therapies and drug resistance. A collection of clinical and environmental C. neoformans isolates were assayed for increased mutat ... Full text Link to item Cite

On Fruits and Fungi: A Risk of Antifungal Usage in Food Storage and Distribution in Driving Drug Resistance in Candida auris.

Journal Article mBio · June 28, 2022 The continuous emergence of antifungal drug resistance is a mounting concern for the treatment of fungal infections worldwide. While many pathogenic fungi exhibit some level of antifungal drug resistance, the identification of Candida auris has brought thi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Dynamic genome plasticity during unisexual reproduction in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus deneoformans.

Journal Article PLoS Genet · November 2021 Genome copy number variation occurs during each mitotic and meiotic cycle and it is crucial for organisms to maintain their natural ploidy. Defects in ploidy transitions can lead to chromosome instability, which is a hallmark of cancer. Ploidy in the haplo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Uniparental nuclear inheritance following bisexual mating in fungi.

Journal Article Elife · August 2, 2021 Some remarkable animal species require an opposite-sex partner for their sexual development but discard the partner's genome before gamete formation, generating hemi-clonal progeny in a process called hybridogenesis. Here, we discovered a similar phenomeno ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epigenetic dynamics of centromeres and neocentromeres in Cryptococcus deuterogattii.

Journal Article PLoS Genet · August 2021 Deletion of native centromeres in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus deuterogattii leads to neocentromere formation. Native centromeres span truncated transposable elements, while neocentromeres do not and instead span actively expressed genes. To expl ... Full text Link to item Cite

Centromere scission drives chromosome shuffling and reproductive isolation.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · April 7, 2020 A fundamental characteristic of eukaryotic organisms is the generation of genetic variation via sexual reproduction. Conversely, significant large-scale genome structure variations could hamper sexual reproduction, causing reproductive isolation and promot ... Full text Link to item Cite

Long transposon-rich centromeres in an oomycete reveal divergence of centromere features in Stramenopila-Alveolata-Rhizaria lineages.

Journal Article PLoS Genet · March 2020 Centromeres are chromosomal regions that serve as platforms for kinetochore assembly and spindle attachments, ensuring accurate chromosome segregation during cell division. Despite functional conservation, centromere DNA sequences are diverse and often rep ... Full text Link to item Cite

Advances in understanding the evolution of fungal genome architecture.

Journal Article F1000Res · 2020 Diversity within the fungal kingdom is evident from the wide range of morphologies fungi display as well as the various ecological roles and industrial purposes they serve. Technological advances, particularly in long-read sequencing, coupled with the incr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epigenetic mechanisms of drug resistance in fungi.

Journal Article Fungal Genet Biol · November 2019 The emergence of drug-resistant fungi poses a continuously increasing threat to human health. Despite advances in preventive care and diagnostics, resistant fungi continue to cause significant mortality, especially in immunocompromised patients. Therapeuti ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cellular Dynamics and Genomic Identity of Centromeres in Cereal Blast Fungus.

Journal Article mBio · July 2019 Precise kinetochore-microtubule interactions ensure faithful chromosome segregation in eukaryotes. Centromeres, identified as scaffolding sites for kinetochore assembly, are among the most rapidly evolving chromosomal loci in terms of the DNA sequence and ... Full text Cite

Dual-Function Polymer-Silver Nanocomposites for Rapid Killing of Microbes and Inhibiting Biofilms.

Journal Article ACS biomaterials science & engineering · January 2019 Polymer-silver nanocomposites have emerged as an integral weapon to combat device-related infections. However, synthesis of the nanocomposites still remains a major challenge that often involves two-step process in which silver nanoparticles are synthesize ... Full text Cite

Five pillars of centromeric chromatin in fungal pathogens.

Journal Article PLoS pathogens · August 2018 Full text Cite

Sad1 Spatiotemporally Regulates Kinetochore Clustering To Ensure High-Fidelity Chromosome Segregation in the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article mSphere · July 2018 Kinetochore clustering, frequently observed in yeasts, plays a key role in genome organization and chromosome segregation. In the absence of the metaphase plate arrangement, kinetochore clustering in yeast species is believed to facilitate timely kinetocho ... Full text Cite

RNAi is a critical determinant of centromere evolution in closely related fungi.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · March 20, 2018 The centromere DNA locus on a eukaryotic chromosome facilitates faithful chromosome segregation. Despite performing such a conserved function, centromere DNA sequence as well as the organization of sequence elements is rapidly evolving in all forms of euka ... Full text Link to item Cite

Fungal genome and mating system transitions facilitated by chromosomal translocations involving intercentromeric recombination.

Journal Article PLoS Biol · August 2017 Species within the human pathogenic Cryptococcus species complex are major threats to public health, causing approximately 1 million annual infections globally. Cryptococcus amylolentus is the most closely known related species of the pathogenic Cryptococc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Aryl-alkyl-lysines: Membrane-Active Fungicides That Act against Biofilms of Candida albicans.

Journal Article ACS infectious diseases · April 2017 Mortality due to pathogenic fungi has been exacerbated by the rapid development of resistance to frontline antifungal drugs. Fungicidal compounds with novel mechanisms of action are urgently needed. Aryl-alkyl-lysines, which are membrane-active small molec ... Full text Cite

Mode of Action of a Designed Antimicrobial Peptide: High Potency against Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Biophysical journal · October 2016 There is a significant need for developing compounds that kill Cryptococcus neoformans, the fungal pathogen that causes meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised individuals. Here, we report the mode of action of a designed antifungal peptide, VG16KRKP (VAR ... Full text Cite

Chitosan Derivatives Active against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria and Pathogenic Fungi: In Vivo Evaluation as Topical Antimicrobials.

Journal Article Molecular pharmaceutics · October 2016 The continuous rise of antimicrobial resistance and the dearth of new antibiotics in the clinical pipeline raise an urgent call for the development of potent antimicrobial agents. Cationic chitosan derivatives, N-(2-hydroxypropyl)-3-trimethylammonium chito ... Full text Cite

A comprehensive model to predict mitotic division in budding yeasts.

Journal Article Molecular biology of the cell · November 2015 High-fidelity chromosome segregation during cell division depends on a series of concerted interdependent interactions. Using a systems biology approach, we built a robust minimal computational model to comprehend mitotic events in dividing budding yeasts ... Full text Cite

Broad spectrum antibacterial and antifungal polymeric paint materials: synthesis, structure-activity relationship, and membrane-active mode of action.

Journal Article ACS applied materials & interfaces · January 2015 Microbial attachment and subsequent colonization onto surfaces lead to the spread of deadly community-acquired and hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections. Noncovalent immobilization of water insoluble and organo-soluble cationic polymers onto a surface ... Full text Cite

Analysis of the genome and transcriptome of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii reveals complex RNA expression and microevolution leading to virulence attenuation.

Journal Article PLoS Genet · April 2014 Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic basidiomycetous yeast responsible for more than 600,000 deaths each year. It occurs as two serotypes (A and D) representing two varieties (i.e. grubii and neoformans, respectively). Here, we sequenced the genome and ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Ordered kinetochore assembly in the human-pathogenic basidiomycetous yeast Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article mBio · October 1, 2013 UNLABELLED: Kinetochores facilitate interaction between chromosomes and the spindle apparatus. The formation of a metazoan trilayered kinetochore is an ordered event in which inner, middle, and outer layers assemble during disassembly of the nuclear envelo ... Full text Link to item Cite

The process of kinetochore assembly in yeasts.

Journal Article FEMS microbiology letters · January 2013 High fidelity chromosome segregation is essential for efficient transfer of the genetic material from the mother to daughter cells. The kinetochore (KT), which connects the centromere DNA to the spindle apparatus, plays a pivotal role in this process. In s ... Full text Cite