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Primary fields of research

Community ecology, population genetics and evolution of fungi with emphasis on biotrophic symbionts and parasites. Molecular markers have been developed to study diversity, population genetic structure and reproductive mode of soil and plant associated fungi. Among the studied fungi are Fusarium, Penicillium, various Oomycota (Peronosporamycota) as well as the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in Glomales and fungi associated with insects. We use rad-sequencing, microsatellites, SNPs, DNA sequencing in to generate markers for these studies. Genetic markers are associated with phenotypic traits of Phytophthora infestans (Potato late blight) to predict emerging epidemics. Molecular diversity and population genetics of AMF fungi in agricultural fields and natural vegetation is studied from variation in various gene markers. Meta-barcoding using Illumina sequencing is used for studies of fungal community structure with emphasis on neutral and deterministic drivers of community assembly. Evolutionary and demographic models based on coalescence and MCMC Bayesian statistics are used to explain fungal diversity and distribution patterns.