Friday Lecture Series
(open to the Rockefeller and Tri-Institutional communities)
Friday, May 1, 2026
Joseph Heitman, M.D., Ph.D.
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University School of Medicine
Epimutations Evoke Transient, Inheritable Antimicrobial Drug Resistance
The Detlev W. Bronk Alumni Lecture
Recommended Readings:
Calo, Silvia, et al. “Antifungal drug resistance evoked via RNAi-dependent epimutations.” Nature 513.7519 (2014): 555-558.
Calo, Silvia, et al. “A non-canonical RNA degradation pathway suppresses RNAi-dependent epimutations in the human fungal pathogen Mucor circinelloides.” PLoS Genetics 13.3 (2017): e1006686.
Chang, Zanetta, et al. “Broad antifungal resistance mediated by RNAi-dependent epimutation in the basal human fungal pathogen Mucor circinelloides.” PLoS Genetics 15.2 (2019): e1007957.
Chang, Zanetta, and Joseph Heitman. “Drug-resistant epimutants exhibit organ-specific stability and induction during murine infections caused by the human fungal pathogen Mucor circinelloides.” MBio 10.6 (2019): 10-1128.
Pérez-Arques, Carlos, et al. “RNAi epimutations conferring antifungal drug resistance are inheritable.” Nature Communications 16.1 (2025): 7293.
Son, Ye-Eun, Carlos Pérez-Arques, and Joseph Heitman. “Epimutations driven by RNAi or heterochromatin evoke transient antimicrobial drug resistance in pathogenic Mucor fungi.” PLoS biology 24.2 (2026): e3003598.
