Lab Members : Valérie Reeb (Graduate Student / Postdoctoral Research Associate)

Webpage at the Bhattacharya lab

Education:
2005 Ph.D. Biology, Duke University, U.S.A.
1993 M.S. Botany, University of Orléans, France.
1991 DEUG Biology, University of Strasbourg, France.

Research Interests:
Systematic and phylogeny of the lichen-forming fungi family Acarosporaceae and genus Acarospora.

Photo: Stephen Sharnoff Acarospora evoluta

Current Research:
The family Acarosporaceae and genus Acarospora have putative ancestral character states suggesting a basal position within the lichenized ascomycetes. Therefore, this family could play an important role in our understanding of the evolution and diversification of lichens. However, the circumscription of the family (never included in any phylogenetic studies), remains unresolved. The Acarosporaceae are small crustose species with cryptic morphological characters difficult to interpret, and the diagnose of the family relies on presence of asci with over 100 spores per ascus, a character probably not restricted to this family.
My work consists in reconstructing a molecular based phylogeny of the family Acarosporaceae and the genus Acarospora within a broad sampling of lichenized and non-lichenized ascomycetes, in order to circumscribe the family and genus and determine the phylogenetic position of the family within the ascomycetes. A robust phylogenetic study would also help to provide a structure upon which lichenologists could build a stable and evolutionary meaningful classification for the genus Acarospora and the family Acarosporaceae.

Publications:
Reeb, V., M.T. Peglar, H.-S. Yoon, J.R. Bai, M. Wu, P. Siu, J.L. Grafenberg, A.R. Prieto, S.E. Rümmele, J. Gross, D. Bhattacharya. 2009. Interrelationships of chromalveolated within a broadly sampled tree of photosynthetic protists. Molecular phylogenetic and evolution (in press).

Reeb, V., and D. Bhattacharya. 2009. The Thermo-Acidophilic Cyanidiophyceae (Cyanidiales). Book chapter (in press).

Knudsen, K., J.A. Elix, and V. Reeb. 2008. A Preliminary Study of the Genera Acarospora and Pleopsidium in South America. Opuscula Philolichenum 5: 1-22.

Reeb, V., P. Haugen, D. Bhattacharya and F. Lutzoni. 2007. Evolution of Pleopsidium (lichenized Ascomycota) S943 group I introns and the phylogeography of an intron-encoded putative homing endonuclease. Journal of Molecular Evolution 64:285-298.

Hibbett, D. S., M. Binder, J. F. Bischoff, M. Blackwell, P. F. Cannon, O. Eriksson, S. Huhndorf, T. James, P. M. Kirk, R. Lücking, T. Lumbsch, F. Lutzoni, P. B. Matheny, D. J. McLaughlin, M. J. Powell, S. Redhead, C. L. Schoch, J. W. Spatafora, J. A. Stalpers, R. Vilgalys, M. C. Aime, A. Aptroot, R. Bauer, D. Begerow, G. L. Benny, L. A. Castlebury, P. W. Crous, Y.- C. Dai, W. Gams, D. M. Geiser, G. W. Griffith, C. Gueidan, D. L. Hawksworth, G. Hestmark, K. Hosaka, R. A. Humber, K. Hyde, U. Koljalg, C. P. Kurtzman, K.-H. Larsson, R. Lichtward, J. Longcore, J. Miadlikowska, A. Miller, J.-M. Monclavo, S. Mozley- Standridge, F. Oberwinkler, E. Parmasto, V. Reeb, J. D. Rogers, C. Roux, L. Ryvarden, J. P. Sampaio, A. Schuessler, J. Sugiyama, R. G. Thorn, L. Tibell, W. A. Untereiner, C. Walker, Z. Wang, A. Weir, M. Weiss, M. White, K. Winka, Y.-J. Yao, N. Zhang. 2007. A higher-level phylogenetic classification of the Fungi. Mycological Research 111:509-547.

James, T.Y., F. Kauff, C. Schoch, P.B. Matheny, V. Hofstetter, C.J. Cox, G. Celio, C. Guiedan, E. Fraker, J. Miadlikowska, T. Lumbsch, A. Rauhut, V. Reeb, A.E. Arnold, A. Amtoft, J.E. Stajich, K. Hosaka, G.-H. Sung, D. Johnson, B. O'Rourke, M. Binder, J.M. Curtis, J.C. Slot, Z. Wang, A.W. Wilson, A. Schüßler, J.E. Longcore, K. O'Donnell, S. Mozley-Standridge, D. Porter, P.M. Letcher, M.J. Powell, J.W. Taylor, M.M. White, G.W. Griffith, D.R. Davies, J. Sugiyama, A.Y. Rossman, J.D. Rogers, D.H. Pfister, D. Hewitt, K. Hansen, S. Hambleton, R.A. Shoemaker, J. Kohlmeyer, B. Volkmann-Kohlmeyer, R.A. Spotts, M. Serdani, P.W. Crous, K.W. Hughes, K.Matsuura, E. Langer, G. Langer, W.A. Untereiner, R. Lücking, B. Büde, D.M. Geiser, A. Aptroot, W.R. Buck, M.S. Cole, P. Diederich, C. Printzen, I. Schmitt, M. Schultz, R. Yahr, A. Zavarzin, D.S. Hibbett, F. Lutzoni, D.J. McLaughlin, J.W. Spatafora, R. Vilgalys. 2006. Reconstructing the early evolution of the fungi using a six gene phylogeny. Nature 443, 818 - 822.

Bhattacharya D., V. Reeb, D. Simon and F. Lutzoni. 2005. Phylogenetic evidence for the reverse splicing spread of group I introns in fungal ribosomal DNA. BMC Evolutionary Biology 5:68.

Lutzoni, F., Kauff, F., Cox, J. C., McLaughlin, D., Celio, G., Dentinger, B., Padamsee, M., Hibbett, D., James, T. Y., Baloch, E., Grube, M., Reeb, V., Hofstetter, V., Shcoch, C., Arnold, A. E., Miadlikowska, J., Spatafora, J., Johnson, D., Hambleton, S., Crockett, M., Shoemaker, R., Sung, G.-H., Lücking, R., Lumbsch, T., O'Donnell, K., Binder, M., Diederich, P., Ertz, D., Gueidan, C., Hansen, K., Harris, R. C., Hosaka, K., Lim, Y.-W., Matheny, B., Nishida, H., Pfister, D., Rogers, J., Rossman, A., Schmitt, I., Sipman, H., Stone, J., Sugiyama, J., Yahr, R., and Vilgalys, R. 2004. Assembling the fungal tree of life: Progress, classification, and evolution of subcellular traits. American Journal of Botany 91:1446-1480.

Reeb V., Lutzoni F. and Roux C. 2004. Contribution of RPB2 to multilocus phylogenetic studies of the euascomycetes (Pezizomycotina, Fungi) with special emphasis on the lichen-forming Acarosporaceae and evolution of polyspory. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 32(3): 1036-1060.

Haugen, P., Reeb V., Lutzoni F. and Bhattacharya D. 2004. The evolution of homing endonuclease genes and group I introns in nuclear rDNA. Molecular Biology and Evolution 21(1): 129-140.

Lutzoni, F., Pagel, M., Reeb, V. 2001. Major fungal lineages are derived from lichen symbiotic ancestors. Nature 411(June21): 937-940.

Bhattacharya, D., Lutzoni, F., Reeb, V., Simon, D., Nason, J., Fernandez, F. 2000. Widespread occurrence of spliceosomal introns in the rDNA genes of ascomycetes. Molecular Biology and Evolution 17:1971-1984.

Lutzoni, F., Wagner, P., Reeb V., and Zoller, S. 2000. Integrating ambiguously aligned regions of DNA sequences in phylogenetic analyses without violating positional homology. Systematic Biology 49:628-651.

Bjelland, T., G. Halleraker, V. Reeb and T. Tønsberg. 1997. The chemotypes of Cetrelia olivetorum in Norway. Graphis Scripta 8: 5-7.