I am a postdoc at Nick Talbot’s group in The Sainsbury Lab (Norwich, UK). I study fungal-algal symbioses, known as lichens. How is it possible that multiple microbes - fungi, algae, bacteria - self-assemble into a lichen, which is big, complex, and three-dimensional? How can symbiotic interactions lead to a stable body plan? How do lichen architectures develop and grow? To address these questions, I use meta-omics, microscopy, and cell biology tools. My ultimate goal is to study lichen symbiosis as a case of complexity arising in evolution.

I did my PhD at the Symbiosis & Evolution Lab at the University of Alberta (Canada). In my PhD project I focused on metagenomics applied to lichen symbiosis.

Recent news

7 Nov 2024: A peer-reviewed version of our analysis of >400 lichen metagenomes from around the world is now out in PLOSBiology. Huge thanks to all the coauthors, this was quite a journey!

19 Aug 2024: Very excited about the new preprint from my postdoc project. Lichen symbiosis is a great conundrum: how can multiple microbes create a large, 3D, and structurally complex organism? To answer this question, we used metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and a bit of protein structure modeling. We explored how gene expression differes between lichen thallus parts / developmental stages and also present the first in-depth analysis of lichen secretome

8 Dec 2023: First published paper from my postdoc! Our preprint on the genomics of Coccomyxa is published in Scientific Reports

14 Sep 2023: First preprint from my postdoc project is out today. Here, we analyze the genome of Coccomyxa viridis - a green alga that we accidentally cultured from a lichen thallus. Unexpectedly, we discovered that C. viridis is present in many lichens, probably as an endophyte

12 Sep 2023: Now I’m also on blueskye. Hopefully it will get as good as twitter used to be!

06 Feb 2023: New preprint alert! What are the core symbionts of lichens? TLDR: we analyzed >400 lichen metagenomes from around the world and found that 4 bacterial groups are as frequent in lichens as the alga, one of the two main partners in the symbiosis

19 Nov 2022: Now I’m also on Mastodon

17 Oct 2022: I’m excited to announce that I have joined Nick Talbot’s group at The Sainsbury Lab! In my postdoc, I will be exploring how cell biology of lichen symbionts shapes the morphogenesis of lichen architectures

22 Jul 2022: Today I defended my PhD! It’s hard for me to believe, but my graduate school journey is coming to an end. Huge thanks to my supervisor Toby Spribille and everyone who helped me in these 5 years!

07 Jul 2021: Our preprint is now published in Molecular Ecology

26 May 2021: Thanks MSA for inviting me to speak at the Students Mycology Colloquium, the recording is now available at youtube

17 Mar 2021: New preprint “Lichen fungi do not depend on the alga for ATP production”

09 Mar 2021: My paper in GBE is finally out! Thanks to all the coauthors!

11 Feb 2021: Hello world! The website is online

Contact me

gulnara.tagirdzhanova at tsl.ac.uk