User:Gagan000171/sandbox

Rytas J. Vilgalys

Rytas J. Vilgalys (January 16, 1958, in Great Neck, New York) is an American mycologist and professor at Duke University, North Carolina who study the natural history of fungi (including their genetics, ecology, and evolution) by using genomics and molecular biology techniques. His research program employs genome sequencing and metagenomics to identify communities of fungi associated with forest trees, including pines, poplars, and eucalypts, and investigate the molecular functioning of fungal communities with their tree hosts using multi 'omics tools. These studies have broad relevance for understanding the genetics of plant-fungal interactions (symbiosis), microbial ecology of forest ecosystems, and invasive biology of introduced species. In collaboration with the Joint Genome Institute, his lab has contributed towards the sequencing of over 100 fungal genomes. There is even one fungus - Lepidostroma vilgalysii (a Lichen) named in honor of Rytas.

Education

He studied at Great Neck North High School, Great Neck, New York. He received his B.A. degree in Biology from State University of New York College at Geneseo in 1978. He was awarded the York State Regents Scholarship from 1975 to 1978. He then went to earn an M.S. degree in Botany from Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia in 1982. In 1985, Rytas went on to earn a Doctorate in Botany from the same institute under the famous mycologist Orson K. Miller Jr. For his Ph.D. work he was also awarded the “Outstanding Dissertation Award” by the College of Arts and Sciences, Virginia Tech, in l986.

Career and professional activities

After graduating and having his thesis work on the “Evolutionary genetics and systematics of fungi in the Collybia dryophila group" he joined Systematic Mycology Laboratory, U.S.D.A., Beltsville, MD as a postdoctoral associate (A. Rossman, supervisor) in December 1985 and he left the postdoc position for the Assistant professor job in Department of Botany at Duke University on August 1986. Later he was promoted to Associate professor position in 1993 and subsequently to a professor position in 2000. Currently, he is holding a Professor of Biology position at the Department of Biology, Duke University. He also taught courses at Mountain Lake Biological Station (University of Virginia) and Duke University to graduate as well as undergraduate students. In December 1991, he also organized the 1st International Fungal Molecular Systematics Workshop in Beijing, China. In his 34-year academic career, he received many awards such as Alexopolous Award from Mycological Society of America (1995), MSA Fellow from Mycological Society of America (2002), AAAS Fellow (2002), and ASM Fellow from American Academy of Microbiology (2012). He also served as President of the Mycological Society of America (MSA) in 2010. In 2014 he was named as a Distinguished Mycologist by MSA. He also trained over 50 Ph.D. students and postdocs at Duke University in his 30-year career and nearly all of his former students hold current positions at academic and research institutions, and several have gone on to become leading scientists in the field of mycology.

Publications

Rytas has published around published over 180 articles in high impact journals (e.g. Nature, PNAS), with over 32,000 citations.

Some notable publications:

•	Vilgalys, R. and M. Hester (1990). Rapid genetic identification and mapping of enzymatically amplified ribosomal DNA from several species of Cryptococcus. J. Bacteriol. 172:4238-4246.

•	Vilgalys, R. and B. Sun. (1994). Ancient and recent patterns of geographic speciation in the oyster mushroom Pleurotus revealed by phylogenetic analysis of ribosomal DNA sequences. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91: 4599-4603, 7832.

•	Vilgalys, R. (2003). Taxonomic misidentification in public DNA databases. New Phytologist 160, 4-5.

•	Fierer, N., J. A. Jackson, R. Vilgalys, and R. B. Jackson. (2005). The assessment of soil microbial community structure using taxon-specific quantitative PCR assays. Appl. Env. Microbiol. 71:41174120.

•	O'Brien, H. E., J. L. Parrent, J. A. Jackson, J. M. Moncalvo, and R. Vilgalys. (2005). Fungal community analysis by large-scale sequencing of environmental samples. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:5544-50.

•	Policelli N, Bruns TD, Vilgalys R, Nuñez MA. (2019). Suilloid fungi as global drivers of pine invasions. New Phytol. 4:183, doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12345.

Book chapters, reviews, opinion

•	Vilgalys, Rytas. (1983). Book Review:  The genus Collybia in New England by Roy Halling. The Mycophile 24: 3.

•	Vilgalys, R. and D. S. Hibbett. (1994). Phylogenetic classification of fungi and our Linnaean heritage. pp. 255-260 In: The fungal holomorph: mitotic, meiotic and pleomorphic speciation in fungal systematics. D. R. Reynolds and J. W. Taylor, eds. CAB International, London.

•	Vilgalys, R., J-M. Moncalvo, S-R. Liou, and M. Volovsek. (1996). Recent advances in molecular systematics of the genus Pleurotus. pp. 91-101 in: Mushroom Biology and Mushroom Products. D.J. Royse, ed., Penn State Univ. Press.

•	Vilgalys, R. (1997). Biodiversity of the oyster mushroom Pleurotus. Mushroom News 45: 32-35.

Taxons named by Rytas

•	Arrhenia peltigerina

•	Dikarya

•	Lichenomphalia

•	Lichenomphalia velutina