Research

Our research involves lab work, fieldwork (mushroom hunting), and computational biology. Much of our fieldwork is completed in the Sierra Nevada foothill and mountain habitats near Fresno.Students in our lab are currently working on various projects involving a diversity of fungal species. We use molecular genetic techniques involving DNA extractions, performing genome sequencing and RNA sequencing, and computational analyses. Our projects investigate both molecular interactions and evolutionary relationships to help understand the ecology and community structures of fungi.

Select Publications (Mujic lab authors highlighted in BOLD text)

Mujic, A. B., Elliott, T. F., Stephens, R. B., Trappe, J. M., Kristol, R., Sublett, D., & Smith, M. E. (2024). Rare but widespread: A systematic revision of the truffle-forming genera Destuntzia and Kjeldsenia and the formation of a new genus, Hosakaea. Mycologia, 116(1), 148–169. https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2023.2259786
Mujic, A. B., Policelli, N., Nuñez, M. A., Truong, C., & Smith, M. E. (2023). Co-invasive ectomycorrhizal fungi alter native soil fungal communities. Plant and Soil, 484(1), 547–567. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05820-8
Healy, R. A., Truong, C., Castellano, M. A., Bonito, G., Trappe, J., Caiafa, M. V., Mujic, A. B., Nouhra, E., Sánchez-Ramírez, S., & Smith, M. E. (2023). Re-examination of the Southern Hemisphere truffle genus Amylascus (Pezizaceae, Ascomycota) and characterization of the sister genus Nothoamylascus gen. Nov. [Text]. Naturalis Biodiversity Center. https://doi.org/10.3767/persoonia.2023.51.03
Pfister, D. H., Healy, R., Furci, G., Mujic, A., Nouhra, E., Truong, C., Caiafa, M. V., & Smith, M. E. (2022). A REEXAMINATION AND REALIGNMENT OF PEZIZA SENSU LATO (PEZIZOMYCETES) SPECIES IN SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA. Darwiniana, 10(1), 148–177.
Grupe, A. C., Jusino, M. A., Mujic, A. B., Spakes-Richter, B., Bonito, G., Brenneman, T., & Smith, M. E. (2021). Effects of Field Fumigation and Inoculation With the Pecan Truffle (Tuber lyonii) on the Fungal Community of Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) Seedlings Over 5 Years. Frontiers in Microbiology, 12, 1042. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.661515
Nouhra, E., Kuhar, F., Truong, C., Pastor, N., Crespo, E., Mujic, A., Caiafa, M. V., & Smith, M. E. (2021). Thaxterogaster revisited: A phylogenetic and taxonomic overview of sequestrate Cortinarius from Patagonia. Mycologia, 113(5), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2021.1894535
Liimatainen, K., Niskanen, T., San-Fabian, B., Mujic, A. B., Peintner, U., Dresch, P., Furci, G., Nouhra, E., Matheny, P. B., & Smith, M. E. (2020). Cortinarius section Thaumasti in South American Nothofagaceae forests. Mycologia, 112(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2019.1689763
Mujic, A. B., Zheng, N., Kim, K., Spatafora, J. W., Castellano, M. A., & Smith, M. E. (2019). The Cedrus-associated truffle Trappeindia himalayensis is a morphologically unique and phylogenetically divergent species of Rhizopogon. Mycologia, 111(2), 225–234. https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2018.1542864
Pastor, N., Chiapella, J., Kuhar, F., Mujic, A. B., Crespo, E. M., & Nouhra, E. R. (2019). Unveiling new sequestrate Cortinarius species from northern Patagonian Nothofagaceae forests based on molecular and morphological data. Mycologia, 111(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2018.1537350
Truong, C., Gabbarini, L. A., Corrales, A., Mujic, A. B., Escobar, J. M., Moretto, A., & Smith, M. E. (2019). Ectomycorrhizal fungi and soil enzymes exhibit contrasting patterns along elevation gradients in southern Patagonia. New Phytologist, 222(4), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15714
Kraisitudomsook, N., Healy, R. A., Pfister, D. H., Truong, C., Nouhra, E., Kuhar, F., Mujic, A. B., Trappe, J. M., & Smith, M. E. (2019). Resurrecting the genus Geomorium: Systematic study of fungi in the genera Underwoodia and Gymnohydnotrya (Pezizales) with the description of three new South American species [Text]. Naturalis Biodiversity Center. https://doi.org/info:doi/10.3767/persoonia.2020.44.04
San-Fabian, B., Niskanen, T., Liimatainen, K., Kooij, P. W., Mujic, A. B., Truong, C., Peintner, U., Dresch, P., Nouhra, E., Matheny, P. B., & Smith, M. E. (2018). New species of Cortinarius sect. Austroamericani, sect. Nov., from South American Nothofagaceae forests. Mycologia, 110(6), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2018.1515449
Mujic, A. B., Huang, B., Chen, M.-J., Wang, P.-H., Gernandt, D. S., Hosaka, K., & Spatafora, J. W. (2019). Out of western North America: Evolution of the Rhizopogon-Pseudotsuga symbiosis inferred by genome-scale sequence typing. Fungal Ecology, 39, 12–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funeco.2018.10.006
Truong, C., Mujic, A. B., Healy, R., Kuhar, F., Furci, G., Torres, D., Niskanen, T., Sandoval-Leiva, P. A., Fernández, N., Escobar, J. M., Moretto, A., Palfner, G., Pfister, D., Nouhra, E., Swenie, R., Sánchez-García, M., Matheny, P. B., & Smith, M. E. (2017). How to know the fungi: Combining field inventories and DNA-barcoding to document fungal diversity. New Phytologist, 214(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14509
Mujic, A. B., Kuo, A., Tritt, A., Lipzen, A., Chen, C., Johnson, J., Sharma, A., Barry, K., Grigoriev, I. V., & Spatafora, J. W. (2017). Comparative Genomics of the Ectomycorrhizal Sister Species Rhizopogon vinicolor and Rhizopogon vesiculosus (Basidiomycota: Boletales) Reveals a Divergence of the Mating Type B Locus. G3 (Bethesda, Md.), 7(6), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.117.039396
Mujic, A. B., Durall, D. M., Spatafora, J. W., & Kennedy, P. G. (2016). Competitive avoidance not edaphic specialization drives vertical niche partitioning among sister species of ectomycorrhizal fungi. New Phytologist, 209(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.13677
Mujic, A. B., Hosaka, K., & Spatafora, J. W. (2014). Rhizopogon togasawariana sp. Nov., the first report of Rhizopogon associated with an Asian species of Pseudotsuga. Mycologia, 106(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.3852/13-055