From mushrooms to molds, fungal life on this planet is often overlooked - but has a big impact. In this series, we dive into fungal research across Duke, a growing area of strength for the university.
Rytas Vilgalys' fascination with fungi began when he was a young boy. Little did he know it would lead to a 40-year career at Duke University and help position the university as one of the world's leading centers for fungal research.
Arriving at Duke shortly after graduate school, Vilgalys joined an effort that transformed mycology from a discipline rooted largely in observation into one driven by genetics, genomics and molecular biology. Over four decades, his work has spanned everything from forest ecology to infectious diseases.
"This is the first job I got, and I've been happy to stay here. The environment has been awesome," Vilgalys said.
Long before coming to Durham, Vilgalys' interest in fungi was taking shape as part of a family tradition. Growing up in a Lithuanian family, he spent summers foraging for mushrooms with his grandmother, aunts, siblings and other relatives in Canadian and U.S. forests.
"Everybody knows where the good mushrooms are," he said, adding that his Lithuanian ancestors have always had a lot of interest in edible mushrooms. "People learn from an early age what's good."
Those family outings instilled more than an appreciation for edible mushrooms. They sparked a curiosity about the natural world that would eventually become his calling.
That curiosity grew in high school when he enrolled in a mushroom identification course at his local public library. The instructor introduced him to a field guide written by the scientist who would later become his graduate advisor.
In college, Vilgalys completed a senior project documenting the mushrooms of Livingston County, N.Y., which reinforced his decision to pursue fungal biology. He went on to train under renowned mushroom expert Orson Miller, whom he describes as a transformative mentor.
Duke: 'The Right Place at the Right Time'
At the time, fungal biology was undergoing changes as researchers began using genetics and molecular techniques to study biodiversity and evolution.
"I was fortunate because I got in early on the technology advances that were happening," Vilgalys said.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, scientists began using DNA to understand relationships among species, even before gene sequencing became commonplace. By the time Vilgalys arrived at Duke after graduate school and a brief postdoctoral appointment with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, molecular biology was rapidly reshaping biological research.
The rise of molecular biology helped pave the way for the influential Fungal Tree of Life Project , an international effort to understand the evolutionary relationships among fungi. The Fungal Tree of Life Project was jointly spearheaded with Francois Lutzoni and his lab group. Scientists were no longer limited to studying small DNA fragments. They could analyze entire fungal genomes and uncover new insights into evolution, ecology and disease.
"I was just in the right place at the right time," he said.
How Fungi Are a Separate Kingdom of Life
During his 40 years at Duke, Vilgalys also witnessed another transformation: the university's emergence as a major center for fungal research. Shortly after arriving, he began collaborating with medical mycologists to study disease-causing fungi. He later worked alongside Duke researchers, including Thomas Mitchell , Joe Heitman and John Perfect.
That work helped establish Duke as a leader in fungal disease research, with expertise spanning medicine, engineering, environmental science and ecology.
For many people, fungi are most familiar as mushrooms. But Vilgalys says their significance extends far beyond what appears above ground.
"Fungi are a separate kingdom of life and a keystone group that is closely related to the animal kingdom," he said. "Now you can study yeast cells and find the same genes that are present in humans. The biology of the organism may be different, but the genes are very much the same."
After decades spent helping map the fungal tree of life, Vilgalys focuses much of his research on the vast fungal communities that support forests from below ground.
For the past two decades, his lab has concentrated on symbiotic fungi associated with trees, particularly poplar and pine. Researchers are working to identify the fungi that develop on or in roots and help plants acquire nutrients while supporting entire ecosystems.
"We've been working on identifying the members of that community that are most closely associated with different forest trees," Vilgalys said.
The Complex Web Supporting Forest Health
Beneath the forest floor, fungi interact with bacteria and other microorganisms in a complex web that supports nutrient cycling, plant growth and forest health. Understanding those interactions has become increasingly important as scientists seek to understand how ecosystems respond to climate change and environmental stress.
Vilgalys and his colleagues are at the forefront of a rapidly growing field of science: the study of plant microbiomes. Much as researchers investigate the human gut microbiome, forest ecologists are examining the microbial communities that help plants survive and thrive. Inside Vilgalys' lab, researchers are investigating these relationships in detail.
Plant microbiome research is important because microbes play a key role in plant growth, health, stress resistance, and productivity. Understanding these interactions can help improve agricultural sustainability, increase crop yields, and support healthy ecosystems in a changing environment.
Associate researcher Borna Zareisfandabadi studies ectomycorrhizal fungi, organisms that form symbiotic partnerships with plant roots without growing into the roots. Using advanced imaging and molecular techniques, researchers can visualize how fungi colonize roots and examine the biological processes underlying those relationships.
From Basic Research to Real-World Solutions
This basic science can be translated and applied in many ways to the real world, explains Zareisfandabadi. "Some applications could be in forestry; for example, we can better understand how trees and fungi interact and how we can conserve different tree species in our forests. Another area could be agriculture, where we can grow food in a more efficient way," he said.
Another member of the lab, postdoctoral researcher Keaton Tremble , focuses on fungal genomics. His work involves collecting fungi from forests, isolating them in the laboratory and sequencing their genomes to understand how they function within ecosystems.
You only see them when they produce a mushroom, and the vast majority of fungi don't produce a mushroom," Tremble said.
The researchers isolate these fungi from roots and sequence their genomes, which act as biological blueprints. By comparing genes across species, researchers can determine how different fungi acquire nutrients, interact with host plants and influence ecosystem processes.
At the heart of the work is a question that has fascinated ecologists for decades: How do fungi and plants support one another? The answers could help scientists better understand forests while providing new tools for agriculture and conservation.
Researchers are beginning to explore "designer microbiomes" that could enhance forest productivity and resilience while revealing the ecological mechanisms that have connected plants and fungi for millions of years.
As climate change reshapes ecosystems, these relationships may become increasingly important.
Insights Into Cancer, Agriculture and the Environment
Fungi are important not just as food, Vilgalys explains. Scientists study fungi because they produce antibiotics, offer insights into cancer biology, influence agriculture, recycle nutrients and form critical symbiotic relationships with plants. Some species cause diseases in crops, wildlife and humans, while others are essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems.
As climate change alters ecosystems and emerging diseases threaten wildlife and human health, understanding fungal communities has become increasingly urgent. Vilgalys points to devastating fungal diseases affecting amphibians and bats, as well as growing concerns about infections in immunocompromised patients.
"There are thousands of species under our feet creating the environment we live in," he said.
Mushroom cultivation, foraging and citizen science have grown dramatically in recent years. As faculty advisor to the Triangle Mycological Society , Vilgalys has watched that enthusiasm spread, especially among younger generations.
They are not just collecting; they are contributing to science.
"They're contributing as citizen scientists to the discovery of new species," said Vilgalys. "And people are interested in wild mushrooms because they're beautiful."
