Dr. Caio Leal-Dutra 

Dr. Caio Leal-Dutra is a fungal evolutionary biologist and bioinformatician interested in the evolutionary genomics of fungal symbioses. His work integrates comparative genomics, transcriptomics, molecular biology, and computational approaches to investigate the mechanisms that drive adaptation, genome evolution, and developmental specialization in fungi.

His primary research model is the mutualism between fungus-farming ants and their cultivated fungi, one of the oldest and most successful examples of agriculture in the animal kingdom. Using this system, he investigates the genomic basis of fungal domestication, nutritional specialization, mitochondrial genome evolution, transposable elements, gene regulation, and developmental differentiation. His recent research has also expanded to include fungal pangenomics, genome architecture, and the diversity and evolution of mycoviruses.

Caio is currently a Collaborating Professor in the Graduate Program in Bioinformatics at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), supported by a CNPq Conhecimento Brasil Fellowship, and serves as a Guest Researcher at the University of Copenhagen. His research combines laboratory experiments with high-throughput sequencing and advanced bioinformatics to address fundamental questions in fungal evolution and host–microbe interactions.

In addition to his research, Caio is committed to training students in genomics and bioinformatics, and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations that bridge evolutionary biology, microbiology, and computational science.