The Brown Lab

Social and Evolutionary Protistology

Department of Biological Sciences
Mississippi State University


Research

The Brown Lab explores the evolution, diversity, and genomic foundations of microbial eukaryotes—organisms that have played central yet often overlooked roles in the history of life. A unifying theme of our research is understanding how complex behaviors emerge in protists and how these behaviors have shaped major evolutionary transitions.

Our work has revealed that a surprisingly large diversity of protists are capable of assembling into complex multicellular structures composed of thousands of individual cells. These systems represent some of the most striking examples of convergent evolution and biological emergence in nature. In many species, multicellularity arises through extraordinary cooperation and altruism, where some cells sacrifice their own survival to enhance the fitness and dispersal of their relatives.

To uncover the mechanisms underlying these transitions, we take an integrative, multi-scale approach that combines comparative genomics, developmental transcriptomics, phylogenomics, and cell biology. Through these efforts, we aim to identify the genetic pathways that repeatedly give rise to social and multicellular behaviors and to understand how these pathways are deployed across deeply divergent lineages.

By uniting molecular, genomic, and evolutionary perspectives, the Brown Lab seeks to reconstruct the origins of major eukaryotic groups and reveal how cooperative behaviors emerge—and re-emerge—across the tree of life, with particular emphasis on amoeboid protists.

Biodiversity

Eukaryotic Evolution & Phylogenomics

Uncovering the deep evolutionary relationships among major eukaryotic lineages across ~2 billion years of history.

Genomics

Comparative Genomics of Amoeboid Protists

Exploring the genomic and morphological innovations that give rise to the extraordinary variety of amoeboid protists.

Behaviors

Origins of Social Multicellularity

Understanding how solitary amoebae repeatedly evolved the ability to form fruiting bodies—either cooperatively as groups or independently as single cells.


Lab Photos




People

We are always looking for interested scientists and students to join the lab, please email
Matthew.Brown{at}msstate.edu

Matthew W. Brown, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

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ACADEMIC POSITIONS

Dr. Donald L. Hall Professor of Biology. Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University. September 2022-present.

Assistant (2013)-> Associate (2019)-> Full Professor (2023). Mississippi State University.

EDUCATION

Postdoctoral Fellow. Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics. Dalhousie University. 2010-2013.

Ph.D. Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. May 2010.

B.Sc. Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. December 2005

 

Nicholas W. Fry, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

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EDUCATION

Postdoctoral Fellow. Mississippi State University. 2026-

Ph.D. Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, USA. December 2025

B.Sc. Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA.

 

Idan Banson

Ph.D. Student

BIO

ORCID

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EDUCATION

Ph.D. Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, USA. Current

B.Sc. University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana.

 

Tristan Henderson

Ph.D. Candidate

BIO

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EDUCATION

Ph.D. Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, USA. Current

B.Sc. Houston Baptist University

Felicity Kleitz-Singleton

Ph.D. Candidate

BIO

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EDUCATION

Ph.D. Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, USA. Current

B.Sc. Microbiology, Mississippi State University, USA.

Benjamin Mixon

Undergraduate Researcher

BIO

EDUCATION

B.Sc. Biochemistry, Mississippi State University, USA. Current

Anne Marie Sullivan

Undergraduate Researcher

BIO

EDUCATION

B.Sc. Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, USA. Current

Charles Thompson

Undergraduate Researcher

BIO

EDUCATION

B.Sc. Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, USA. Current


Publications

^ = undergraduate trainee, + = graduate trainee, ` = postdoc trainee, ® = visiting graduate trainee, #= high school student
@ = Peer-Reviewed, $ = Editorial Review, ~ = Preprint/Not reviewed

2025

87. Valt M, Pánek T, Mirzoyan S, Tice AK`, Jones RE+, Dohnálek V, Dolezal P, Mikšátko J, Rotterová J, Hrubá P, Brown MW*, Čepička I*. 2025. Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09750-0 *Contributed equally – corresponding. @ PDF __

86. Banson I, Brown MW. 2025. Big evolutionary fireworks in tiny glass houses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 122 (26) e2511509122. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2511509122 ~ PDF

85. Porfirio-Sousa AL, Souza MBGE, Jones RE, Brown MW, Lahr DJG, Tice AK. 2025. Pyrumthecina Infraorder Nov.: Revisiting the morphological diversity and identifying the phylogenetic home of Argynnia within Arcellinida (Tubulinea:Amoebozoa). biorxiv. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.20.671167 ~ PDF

84. Porfirio-Sousa AL, Jones RE, Brown MW, Lahr DJG, Tice AK. 2025. Phylogenetic placement and contamination screening of Amoebozoa genomic data from the Protist 10,000 Genomes (P10K) Database. biorxiv. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.19.670927 ~ PDF

83. Jones RE+, Blandenier Q`, Kleitz-Singleton F+, Henderson TC+, Fry NW+, Banson I+, Nguyen J, Tice AK`, Brown MW. 2025. Piercing the veil: A novel amoebozoan (Janelia veilia n. gen. n. sp.) reveals deep clades within Discosea through phylogenomics. Protist. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.protis.2025.126103 @ PDF __

82. Pánek T`, Tice AK`, Corre P, Hrubá P, Žihala D, Kamikawa R, Yazaki E, Shiratori T, Kume K, Hashimoto T, Ishida K, Hradilová M, Silberman JD, Roger AJ, Inagaki Y, Eliáš M, Brown MW, Čepička I 2025. An expanded phylogenomic analysis of Heterolobosea reveals the deep relationships, non-canonical genetic codes, and cryptic flagellate stages in the group. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2025.108289 @ PDF __

81. Blandenier Q`, Gibson N^, Tice AK`, Jones RE+, Jones EP^, Baird RE, Zurweller BA, Brown MW. 2025. Full 18S metabarcoding of environmental samples of various substrates with Nanopore sequencing. Protocols.io. DOI: 10.17504/protocols.io.3byl4qe48vo5/v2 ~ PDF

2024

80. Tice AK`, Regis K, Shutt T, Spiegel FW, Brown MW*, Silberman JD*. 2024. Validating the genus Pocheina (Acrasidae, Heterolobosea, Excavata) leads to the recognition of three major lineages within Acrasidae. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.70004 bioRxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.05.616810 * = contributed equally, co-senior @ PDF

79. Sheikh S, Fu CJ, Brown MW, Baldauf SL. 2024. The Acrasis kona genome and developmental transcriptomes reveal deep origins of eukaryotic multicellular pathways. Nature Communications. 15: 10197. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54029-z @ PDF

78. Banos H, Wong TKF, Daneau J, Susko E, Minh BQ, Lanfear R, Brown MW, Eme L, Roger AJ. 2024. GTRpmix: A linked general-time reversible model for profile mixture models. Molecular Biology and Evolution. msae174, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae174. bioRxiv. 2024.03.29.587376. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.29.587376 @ PDF

77. Porfirio-Sousa AL®*, Tice AK`*, Morais L, Ribeiro GM, Blandenier Q`, Dumack K, Eglit Y, Fry NW+, Souza MBGE, Henderson T+, Kleitz-Singleton F+, Singer D, Brown MW**, Lahr DJG**. 2024. Amoebozoan testate amoebae illuminate the diversity of heterotrophs and the complexity of ecosystems throughout geological time. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 121 (30): e2319628121 DOI: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2319628121. * &** = contributed equally (co-first, co-senior) @ PDF

76. Becker BM, Banson I+, Walker JM, Deshwal A, Brown MW, Silberman JD. 2024. Isolation of Naegleria lustrarea n. sp. (Excavata, Discoba, Heterolobosea) from Feces of Ambystoma annulatum (Ringed Salamander) in Northwest Arkansas. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.13031 @ PDF

75. Henderson T+, Garcia-Gimeno L^, Beasley CE^, Fry NW+, Bess J^, Brown MW. 2024. High above the rest: Standing behaviors in the amoebae of Sappinia and Thecamoeba. European Journal of Protistology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2024.126082 @ PDF

74. Fry NW+, Jones RE+, Blandenier Q`, Tice AK`, Porfirio-Sousa AL®, Kleitz-Singleton F+, Henderson T+, Brown MW. 2024. Molecular phylogenetic analyses support the validity of Ceratiomyxa porioides (Amoebozoa, Eumycetozoa) at species level. European Journal of Protistology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2024.126083 @ PDF

73. Jones RE+, Tice AK`, Eliáš M, Eme L, Kolísko M, Nenarokov S, Pánek T, Rokas A, Salomaki E, Strassert JFH, Shen XX, Žihala D, Brown MW. 2024. Create, Analyze, and Visualize Phylogenomic Datasets Using PhyloFisher. Current Protocols. 4(1):e969 https://doi.org/10.1002/cpz1.969 @ PDF

72. Fry NW+, Schuler GA+, Jones RE+, Kooienga PG^, Jira V#, Shepherd M^, Tice AK`, Brown MW. 2024. Living in the cracks: two novel genera of Variosea (Amoebozoa) discovered on an urban sidewalk. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.13020 @ PDF

2023

71. Jones RE+, Jones EP^, Tice AK`, Brown MW. 2023. A PhyloFisher utility for nucleotide-based phylogenomic matrix construction; nucl_matrix_constructor.py. bioRxiv. 2023.11.30.569490. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.11.30.569490 ~ PDF

70. Porfirio-Sousa AL@*, Tice AK`*, Morais L, Ribeiro GM, Blandenier Q, Dumack K, Eglit Y, Fry NW+, Souza MBGE, Henderson T+, Kleitz-Singleton F+, Singer D, Brown MW**, Lahr DJG. 2023**. Amoebozoan testate amoebae illuminate the diversity of heterotrophs and the complexity of ecosystems throughout geological time. bioRxiv 2023.11.08.566222; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.11.08.566222 ~ PDF

69. Sheikh S, Fu CJ, Brown MW, Baldauf SL. 2023. Deep origins of eukaryotic multicellularity revealed by the Acrasis kona genome and developmental transcriptomes, Research Square {preprint} DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2587723/v1 ~ PDF

68. Porfirio-Sousa AL®, Henderson TC+, Brown MW. Effective and efficient cytoskeleton (actin and microtubules) fluorescence staining of adherent eukaryotic cells V.2. Protocols.io DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.kxygxeerzv8j/v2 ~ PDF

67. Tice AK`, Spiegel FW, Brown MW. 2023. Phylogenetic placement of the protosteloid amoeba Microglomus paxillus identifies another case of sporocarpic fruiting in Discosea (Amoebozoa). Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 24:e12971. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.12971 @ PDF

2022

66. Azuma T, Pánek T`, Tice AK`, Kayama M, Kobayashi M, Miyashita H, Suzaki T, Yabuki A, Brown MW*, Kamikawa R*. 2022. The enigmatic stramenopile Actinophrys sol sheds light on early steps for plastid organellogenesis in Ochrophyta. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 39(4):msac065. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msac065 @ *= corresponding authors PDF

65. Tice AK`, Brown MW. 2022. Multicellularity: Amoebae follow the leader to food. Current Biology. 32(9):R418-R420 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.03.067 $ PDF

2021

64. Tice AK`, Žihala D®, Pánek T`, Jones RE+, Salomaki E, Nenarokov S, Burki F, Eliáš M, Eme L, Roger AJ, Rokas A, Shen X, Strassert JFH, Kolísko M, Brown MW. 2021. PhyloFisher: A phylogenomic package for resolving eukaryotic relationships. PLoS Biology. 19(8): e3001365. @ PDF

63. Rodriguez-Caro F, Fenner J, Bhardwaj S, Cole J, Benson JC, Colombara AM, Papa R, Brown MW, Martin A, Range RC, Counterman BA. 2021. Novel doublesex duplication associated with sexually dimorphic development of dogface butterfly wings. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 38(11):5021-5033. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab228 @ PDF

62. Brown MW. 2021. Effective and efficient cytoskeleton (actin and microtubules) fluorescence staining of adherent eukaryotic cells. Protocols.io. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.8wkhxcw ~ PDF

61. Kang S+*, Tice AK`*, Stairs CW, Lahr DJG, Jones RE+, Brown MW. 2021. The integrin-mediated adhesive complex in the ancestor of animals, fungi, and amoebae. Current Biology. 31: 3073-3085. @ (*=contributed equally) PDF

60. Porfírio-Sousa AL®, Tice AK+, Brown MW, Lahr DJG. 2021. Phylogenetic reconstruction and evolution of the Rab GTPase gene family in Amoebozoa. Small GTPases. DOI: 10.1080/21541248.2021.1903794 @ PDF

2020

59. Salomaki E, Eme L, Brown MW, Kolisko M. 2020. Releasing uncurated datasets is essential for reproducible phylogenomics. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 4: 1435–1437. $ PDF

58. Lawal HM, Schilde C, Kin K, Brown MW, James J, Prescott AR, Schaap P. 2020. Cold climate adaptation is a plausible cause for evolution of multicellular sporulation in Dictyostelia. Scientific Reports. 10: 8797. @ PDF

57. Onsbring H*, Tice AK+*, Barton BT, Brown MW”, Ettema TJG”. 2020. An efficient single-cell transcriptomics workflow for microbial eukaryotes benchmarked on Giardia intestinalis cells. BMC Genomics. 21: 448. @ *&”=Contributed equally (first and last). PDF

56. Brown MW, Tice AK+. 2020. A genetic toolbox for marine protists. Nature Methods. 17(5): 469-470. $ PDF

55. Yubuki N, Lopez-Garcia P, Reboul G, Brown MW, Pollet N, Moreira D. 2020. Ancient Adaptive Lateral Gene Transfers in the Symbiotic Opalina - Blastocystis Stramenopile Lineage. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 37: 651–659. @ PDF

54. Burki F, Roger AJ, Brown MW, Simpson AGB. 2020. The new tree of eukaryotes. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 35:43-55. @ PDF

2019

53. Lahr DJG, Kosakyana A, Lara E, Mitchell EAD, Morais L, Porfirio-Sousa AL, Ribeiro GM, Tice AK+, Pánek T`, Kang S+, Brown MW. 2019. Phylogenomics and ancestral morphological reconstruction of testate amoebae demonstrate high diversity of microbial eukaryotes in the Neoproterozoic. Current Biology. 29(6): 911-1003.e3. @ PDF

52. Brown MW, Lahr DJG. 2019. ‘Micro snails’ we scraped from sidewalk cracks help unlock details of ancient earth’s biological evolution. The Conversation. 112362. https://theconversation.com/micro-snails-we-scraped-from-sidewalk-cracks-help-unlock-details-of-ancient-earths-biological-evolution-112362. $ popular science article PDF

51. Fiore-Donno AM, Tice AK+, Brown MW. 2019. A Non-Flagellated Member of the Myxogastria and Expansion of the Echinosteliida. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 66: 538-544. @ PDF

50. Schuler GA+, Brown MW. 2019. Description of Armaparvus languidus n. gen. n. sp. confirms ultrastructural unity of Cutosea (Amoebozoa, Evosea). Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 66: 158-166. @ PDF

49. Adl SM, Bass D, Lane CE, Lukeš J, Schoch CL, Smirnov A, Agatha S, Berney C, Brown MW, Burki F, Cárdenas P, Čepička I, Chistyakova L, del Campo J, Dunthorn M, Edvardsen B, Eglit Y, Guillou L, Hampl V, Heiss AA, Hoppenrath M, James TY, Karpov S, Kim E, Kolisko M, Kudryavtsev A, Lahr DJG, Lara E, Le Gall L, Lynn DH, Mann DG, Massana R, Mitchell EAD, Morrow C, Park JS, Pawlowski JW, Powell MJ, Richter DJ, Rueckert S, Shadwick L, Shimano S, Simpson AGB, Spiegel FW, Torruella G, Youssef N, Zlatogursky V, Zhang Q. 2019. Revisions to the classification, nomenclature, and diversity of eukaryotes. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 66: 4-116. @ PDF

2018

48. del Campo J, Kolisko M, Boscaro V, Santoferrara L, Massana R, Guillou L, Simpson AGB, Berney C, de Vargas C, Kaye J, Bender S, Brown MW, Keeling P, Wegener Parfrey L. 2018. EukRef: phylogenetic curation of ribosomal RNA to enhance understanding of eukaryotic diversity and distribution. PLoS Biology. 16(9): e2005849. @ PDF

47. Hofstatter PG, Brown MW, Lahr DJG. 2018. Comparative genomics supports sex and meiosis in diverse Amoebozoa. Genome Biology and Evolution. 10: 3118-3128. @ PDF

46. Schuler GA+, Tice AK+, Pearce RA, Foreman E^, Stone J, Gammill S, Wilson JD, Reading C, Silberman JD, Brown MW. 2018. Phylogeny and classification of novel diversity in Sainouroidea (Cercozoa, Rhizaria) sheds light on a highly diverse and divergent clade. Protist. 169: 853-874. @ PDF

45. Heiss AA, Kolisko M, Ekelund F, Brown MW, Roger AJ, Simpson AGB. 2018. Combined morphological and phylogenomic re-examination of malawimonads, a critical taxon for inferring the evolutionary history of eukaryotes. Royal Society Open Science. 5: 171707. @ PDF

44. Brown MW, Heiss AA, Kamikawa R, Inagaki Y, Yabuki A, Tice AK+, Shiratori T, Ishida K, Hashimoto T, Simpson AGB, Roger AJ. 2018. Phylogenomics places orphan protistan lineages in a novel eukaryotic super-group. Genome Biology and Evolution. 10:427-433. @ PDF

43. Leonard G, Labarre A, Milner D, Monier A, Soanes D, Wideman JG, Maguire F, Stevens S, Sain D, Grau-Bove X, Sebe-Pedros A, Stajich JE, Paszkiewicz K, Brown MW, Hall N, Wickstead B, Richards TA. 2018. Comparative genomic analysis of the ‘psuedofungus’ Hyphochytrium catenoides. Royal Society Open Biology. 8: 170184. @ PDF

2017

42. Kang S+, Tice AK+, Spiegel FW, Silberman JD, Pánek T, Čepička I, Kostka M, Kosakyan A, Alcântara DM, Roger AJ, Shadwick LL, Smirnov A, Kudryavstev A, Lahr DJG, Brown MW. 2017. Between a pod and a hard test: the deep evolution of amoebae. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 34: 2258-2270. @ PDF

41. Geisen S, Mitchell EAD, Wilkinson DM, Adl S, Bonkowski M, Brown MW, Fiore-Donno AM, Heger TJ, Jassey VEJ, Krashevska V, Lahr DJG, Marcisz K, Mulot M, Payne R, Singer D, Anderson OR, Charman DJ, Ekelund F, Griffiths BS, Rønn R, Smirnov A, Bass D, Belbahri L, Berney C, Blandenier Q, Chatzinotas A, Clarholm M, Dunthorn M, Feest A, Fernandez-Parra LD, Foissner W, Fournier B, Gentekaki E, Hajek M, Helder J, Jousset A, Koller R, Kumar S, La Terza A, Lamentowicz M, Mazei Y, Santos SS, Seppey CVW, Spiegel FW, Walochnik J, Winding A, Lara E. 2017. Soil protistology rebooted: 30 fundamental questions to start with. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 111: 94–103. @ PDF

40. Spiegel FW, Shadwick L, Brown MW, Nderitu G, Aguliar M, Shadwick JDL. 2017. Protosteloid Amoebozoa (Protosteliids, Protosporangiida, Cavostellida, Schizoplasmodiida, Fractoviteliida, and sporocarpic members of Vanellida, Centramoebida, and Pellitida). In Archibald, Simpson, Slamovits (Eds.) Handbook of the Protists (Second Edition of the Handbook of Protoctista by Margulis et al.). Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_12-1 @ PDF

2016

39. Tice AK+, Shadwick LL, Fiore-Donno AM, Geisen S, Kang S+, Schuler GA+, Spiegel FW, Wilkinson K, Bonkowski M, Dumack K, Lahr DJG, Voelcker E, Clauß S, Zhang J, Brown MW. 2016. Expansion of the molecular and morphological diversity of Acanthamoebidae (Centramoebida, Amoebozoa) and identification of a novel life cycle type within the group. Biology Direct. 11:69. @ PDF

38. Pánek T, Simpson AGB, Brown MW, Dyer BD. 2016. Heterolobosea. In Archibald, Simpson, Slamovits (Eds.) Handbook of the Protists (Second Edition of the Handbook of Protoctista by Margulis et al.). Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_10-1. @ PDF

37. Hofstatter P, Tice AK+, Kang S+, Brown MW*, Lahr DJG*. 2016. Evolution of bacterial recombinase A (recA) in eukaryotes explained by addition of genomic data of key microbial lineages. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283: 20161453. @ *Both last authors are corresponding. PDF

36. Heiss AA, Brown MW, Simpson AGB. 2016. Apusomonadida. In Archibald, Simpson, Slamovits (Eds.) Handbook of the Protists (Second Edition of the Handbook of Protoctista by Margulis et al.). Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_15-1 @ PDF

35. Shadwick LL, Brown MW, Tice AK+, Spiegel FW. 2016. A new amoeba with protosteloid fruiting: Luapeleamoeba hula n. g. n. sp. Acta Protozoologica. 55(3): 123-134. @ PDF

34. Gawryluk RMR, Kamikawa R, Stairs CW, Silberman JD, Brown MW, Roger AJ. 2016. The earliest evolutionary stages of mitochondrial adaptation to low oxygen. Current Biology. 26(20): 2729–2738. @ PDF

33. Harding T, Brown MW, Simpson AGB, Roger AJ. 2016. Osmoadaptative strategy and its molecular signature in obligately halophilic heterotrophic protists. Genome Biology and Evolution. 8(7): 2241–2258. @ PDF

32. Hamann E, Gruber-Vodicka H, Kleiner M, Tegetmeyer HE, Riedel D, Littmann S, Chen J, Milucka J, Viehweger B, Becker KW, Dong X, Stairs CW, Hinrichs K, Brown MW, Roger AJ, Strous M. 2016. Environmental Breviatea harbour mutualistic Arcobacter epibionts. Nature. 534: 254-258. @ PDF

31. Noguchi F, Tanifuji G, Brown MW, Fujikura K, Takishita K. 2016. Complex evolution of two types of cardiolipin synthase in the eukaryotic lineage stramenopiles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 101: 133-141. @ PDF

30. Tice AK+, Brown MW, Altig R. 2016. Hyla chrysoscelis (Cope’s gray treefrog), H. avivoca (bird-voiced treefrog), and H. cinerea (green treefrog). Interactions of protozoans and algae with frog eggs and tadpoles. Herpetological Review. 47(3): 438-439. $ PDF

29. Walthall AC^, Tice AK+, Brown MW. 2016. A new species of Flamella (Amoebozoa, Variosea, Gracilipodida) isolated from a freshwater pool in southern Mississippi, USA. Acta Protozoologica. 55(2): 111-117. @ PDF

28. Tice AK+, Silberman JD, Walthall AC^, Le KND, Spiegel FW, Brown MW. 2016. Sorodiplophrys stercorea: another novel lineage of sorocarpic multicellularity. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 63(5): 623-628. @ PDF

27. Bass D, Silberman JD, Brown MW, Pearce RA, Tice AK+, Jousset A, Geisen S, Hartikainen H. 2016. Coprophilic amoebae and flagellates, including Guttulinopsis, Rosculus and Helkesimastix, characterise a divergent and diverse rhizarian radiation and contribute to a large diversity of faecal-associated protists. Environmental Microbiology. 18(5): 1604-1619. @ PDF

26. Pánek T, Zadrobílková E, Walker G, Brown MW, Gentekaki E, Hroudová M, Kang S+, Roger AJ, Tice AK+, Vlček C, Čepička I. 2016. First multigene analysis of Archamoebae (Amoebozoa: Conosa) robustly reveals its phylogeny and shows that Entamoebidae represents a deep lineage of the group. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 98: 41-51. @ PDF

25. Brown LR, Gunnell SM, Cassella A, Keller LE, Scherkenbach LA, Mann B, Brown MW, Rosch JW, Tuomanen EI, Thornton JA. 2016. AdcAII of Streptococcus pneumoniae affects pneumococcal invasiveness. PLoS ONE. 11(1): e0146785. @ PDF

2015

24. Sharpe SC, Eme L, Brown MW, Roger AJ. 2015. Timing the origins of multicellular eukaryotes through phylogenomics and relaxed molecular clock analyses. In Nedelcu, Ruiz-Trillo (Eds.) Evolutionary transitions to multicellular life: Principles and mechanisms. Springer, New York. pp. 3-29. ISBN: 978-94-017-9641-5. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-9642-2_1. @ PDF

2014

23. Maguire F, Henriquez F, Leonard G, Dacks JB, Brown MW, Richards TA. 2014. Complex patterns of gene fusion and fission in the eukaryotic folate biosynthesis pathway. Genome Biology and Evolution. 6(10): 2709-2720. @ PDF

22. Watson PM^, Sorrell SC^, Brown MW. 2014. Ptolemeba n. gen., a novel genus of hartmannellid amoebae (Tubulinea, Amoebozoa); with an emphasis on the taxonomy of Saccamoeba. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 61(6): 611-619. @ PDF

21. Eme L, Sharpe SC, Brown MW, Roger AJ. 2014. On the age of eukaryotes: Evaluating evidence from fossils and molecular clocks. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology. 6: a016139. Online publication, but also printed in Keeling, Koonin (Eds.) The Origin and Evolution of Eukaryotes, a subject collection from Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology. pp. 165-180. @ PDF

20. Stairs CW, Eme L, Brown MW, Mutsaers C, Susko E, Dellaire G, Soanes DM, van der Giezen M, Roger AJ. 2014. A SUF Fe-S cluster biogenesis system in the mitochondrion-related organelles of the microaerophilic protist Pygsuia. Current Biology. 24: 1176-1186. @ PDF

19. Kudryavtsev A, Brown MW, Tice AK, Spiegel FW, Pawlowski J, Anderson OR. 2014. A revision of the order Pellitida Smirnov et al., 2011 (Amoebozoa, Discosea) based on ultrastructural and molecular evidence, with description of Endostelium crystalliferum n. sp. Protist. 165(2): 208-229. @ PDF

18. Tanifuji G, Onodera N, Brown MW, Curtis BA, Roger AJ, Wong GK, Melkonian M, Archibald JM. 2014. Nucleomorph and plastid genome sequences of the chlorarachniophyte Lotharella oceanica: convergent reductive evolution and frequent recombination in nucleomorph-bearing algae. BMC Genomics. 15: 374. @ PDF

17. Suga H, Torruella G, Burger G, Brown MW, Ruiz-Trillo I. 2014. Earliest holozoan expansion of phosphotyrosine signaling. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 31(3): 517-528. @ PDF

16. Kamikawa R, Kolisko M, Nishimura Y, Yabuki A, Brown MW, Ishikawa SA, Ishida K, Simpson AGB, Roger AJ, Hashimoto T, Inagaki Y. 2014. Gene-content evolution in discobid mitochondria deduced from the phylogenetic position and complete mitochondrial genome of Tsukubamonas globosa. Genome Biology and Evolution. 6(2): 306–315. @ PDF

2013

15. Brown MW, Sharpe S, Silberman JD, Heiss A, Lang BF, Simpson AGB, Roger AJ. 2013 Phylogenomics demonstrates that breviate flagellates are related to opisthokonts. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 280: 20131755. @ PDF

14. Brown MW*, Silberman JD. 2013. The Non-Dictyostelid Sorocarpic Amoebae. In Romeralo, Escalante, Baldauf (Eds.) Dictyostelids - Evolution, Genomics and Cell Biology. Springer, Heidelberg Germany. pp. 219-242. ISBN: 978-3-642-38487-5. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-38487-5_12. *Senior & Corresponding Author. $ PDF

13. Suga H, Chen Z, de Mendoza A, Sebé-Pedrós A, Brown MW, Kramer E, Carr M, Kerner P, Vervoort M, Sánchez-Pons N, Torruella G, Derelle R, Manning G, Lang BF, Russ C, Haas BJ, Roger AJ, Nusbaum C, Ruiz-Trillo I. 2013. The Capsaspora genome reveals a complex unicellular prehistory of animals. Nature Communications. 4: 2325. @ PDF

12. Kamikawa R, Brown MW, Nishimura Y, Sako Y, Heiss AA, Yubuki N, Gawryluk R, Simpson AGB, Roger AJ, Hashimoto T, Inagaki Y. 2013. Parallel re-modeling of EF-1α function: divergent EF-1α genes co-occur with EFL genes in diverse distantly related eukaryotes. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 13: 131. @ PDF

11. Harding T, Brown MW, Plotnikov A, Selivanova E, Park JS, Gunderson JH, Baumgartner M, Silberman JD, Roger AJ, Simpson AGB. 2013. Amoeba stages in the deepest branching heteroloboseans, including Pharyngomonas: evolutionary and systematic implications. Protist. 164(2): 272-286. @ PDF

2012 - 2007

10. Adl SM, Simpson AGB, Lane CE, Lukes J, Bass D, Bowser SS, Brown MW, Burki F, Dunthorn M, Hampl V, Heiss A, Hoppenrath M, Lara E, Legall L, Lynn DH, McManus H, Mitchell EAD, Mozley-Stanridge SE, Parfrey LW, Pawlowski J, Rueckert S, Shadwick LL, Schoch C, Smirnov A, Spiegel FW. 2012. The revised classification of eukaryotes. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 59(5): 429–514. @ PDF

9. Schnittler M, Novozhilov YK, Romeralo M, Brown MW, Fiore-Donno AM. 2012. Fruit body-forming protists: Myxomycetes and Myxomycete-like organisms Acrasia, Eumycetozoa. In Frey (Ed.) Engler’s Syllabus of Plant Families, 13th ed. Part 1: Blue-green Algae, Myxomycetes and Myxomycete-like Organisms, Phytoparasitic protists, Heterotrophic Heterokontobionta and Fungi. Borntraeger Science Publishers, Berlin. pp. 40-88. ISBN 978-3-443-01061-4. DOI: 10.13140/2.1.4668.9284. $ PDF

8. Brown MW, Kolisko M, Silberman JD, Roger AJ. 2012. Aggregative multicellularity evolved independently in the eukaryotic supergroup Rhizaria. Current Biology. 22(12): 1123-1127. @ PDF

7. Brown MW, Silberman JD, Spiegel FW. 2012. A contemporary evaluation of the acrasids (Acrasidae, Heterolobosea, Excavata). European Journal of Protistology. 48(2): 103-123. Invited manuscript. @ PDF

6. Brown MW, Silberman JD, Spiegel FW. 2011. “Slime molds” among the Tubulinea (Amoebozoa): Molecular systematics and taxonomy of Copromyxa. Protist. 162: 277-287. @ PDF

5. Brown MW, Silberman JD, Spiegel FW. 2010. A morphologically simple species of Acrasis (Heterolobosea, Excavata), Acrasis helenhemmesae n. sp. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 57(4): 346-353. @ PDF

4. Brown MW, Spiegel FW, Silberman JD. 2009. Phylogeny of the “forgotten” cellular slime mold, Fonticula alba, reveals a key evolutionary branch within Opisthokonta. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 26(12): 2699-2709. @ PDF

3. Shadwick LL, Spiegel FW, Shadwick JDL, Brown MW, Silberman JD. 2009. Eumycetozoa = Amoebozoa?: SSUrDNA Phylogeny of Protosteloid Slime Molds and its Significance for the Supergroup Amoebozoa. PLoS ONE. 4(8): e6754. @ PDF

2. Spiegel FW, Shadwick JD, Lindley LA, Brown MW, Nderitu G. 2007. A Beginner’s Guide to Identifying the Protostelids. http://slimemold.uark.edu/pdfs/Handbook1_3rd.pdf ~ PDF

1. Brown MW, Spiegel FW, Silberman JD. 2007. Amoeba at Attention: Phylogenetic Affinity of Sappinia pedata. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 54(6): 511-519. @ PDF

EXPAND ALL

87. Valt M, Pánek T, Mirzoyan S, Tice AK`, Jones RE+, Dohnálek V, Dolezal P, Mikšátko J, Rotterová J, Hrubá P, Brown MW*, Čepička I*. 2025. Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09750-0 *Contributed equally – corresponding. @ PDF __

86. Banson I, Brown MW. 2025. Big evolutionary fireworks in tiny glass houses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 122 (26) e2511509122. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2511509122 ~ PDF

85. Porfirio-Sousa AL, Souza MBGE, Jones RE, Brown MW, Lahr DJG, Tice AK. 2025. Pyrumthecina Infraorder Nov.: Revisiting the morphological diversity and identifying the phylogenetic home of Argynnia within Arcellinida (Tubulinea:Amoebozoa). biorxiv. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.20.671167 ~ PDF

84. Porfirio-Sousa AL, Jones RE, Brown MW, Lahr DJG, Tice AK. 2025. Phylogenetic placement and contamination screening of Amoebozoa genomic data from the Protist 10,000 Genomes (P10K) Database. biorxiv. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.19.670927 ~ PDF

83. Jones RE+, Blandenier Q`, Kleitz-Singleton F+, Henderson TC+, Fry NW+, Banson I+, Nguyen J, Tice AK`, Brown MW. 2025. Piercing the veil: A novel amoebozoan (Janelia veilia n. gen. n. sp.) reveals deep clades within Discosea through phylogenomics. Protist. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.protis.2025.126103 @ PDF __

82. Pánek T`, Tice AK`, Corre P, Hrubá P, Žihala D, Kamikawa R, Yazaki E, Shiratori T, Kume K, Hashimoto T, Ishida K, Hradilová M, Silberman JD, Roger AJ, Inagaki Y, Eliáš M, Brown MW, Čepička I 2025. An expanded phylogenomic analysis of Heterolobosea reveals the deep relationships, non-canonical genetic codes, and cryptic flagellate stages in the group. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2025.108289 @ PDF __

81. Blandenier Q`, Gibson N^, Tice AK`, Jones RE+, Jones EP^, Baird RE, Zurweller BA, Brown MW. 2025. Full 18S metabarcoding of environmental samples of various substrates with Nanopore sequencing. Protocols.io. DOI: 10.17504/protocols.io.3byl4qe48vo5/v2 ~ PDF

80. Tice AK`, Regis K, Shutt T, Spiegel FW, Brown MW*, Silberman JD*. 2024. Validating the genus Pocheina (Acrasidae, Heterolobosea, Excavata) leads to the recognition of three major lineages within Acrasidae. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.70004 bioRxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.05.616810 * = contributed equally, co-senior @ PDF

79. Sheikh S, Fu CJ, Brown MW, Baldauf SL. 2024. The Acrasis kona genome and developmental transcriptomes reveal deep origins of eukaryotic multicellular pathways. Nature Communications. 15: 10197. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54029-z @ PDF

78. Banos H, Wong TKF, Daneau J, Susko E, Minh BQ, Lanfear R, Brown MW, Eme L, Roger AJ. 2024. GTRpmix: A linked general-time reversible model for profile mixture models. Molecular Biology and Evolution. msae174, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae174. bioRxiv. 2024.03.29.587376. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.29.587376 @ PDF

77. Porfirio-Sousa AL®*, Tice AK`*, Morais L, Ribeiro GM, Blandenier Q`, Dumack K, Eglit Y, Fry NW+, Souza MBGE, Henderson T+, Kleitz-Singleton F+, Singer D, Brown MW**, Lahr DJG**. 2024. Amoebozoan testate amoebae illuminate the diversity of heterotrophs and the complexity of ecosystems throughout geological time. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 121 (30): e2319628121 DOI: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2319628121. * &** = contributed equally (co-first, co-senior) @ PDF

76. Becker BM, Banson I+, Walker JM, Deshwal A, Brown MW, Silberman JD. 2024. Isolation of Naegleria lustrarea n. sp. (Excavata, Discoba, Heterolobosea) from Feces of Ambystoma annulatum (Ringed Salamander) in Northwest Arkansas. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.13031 @ PDF

75. Henderson T+, Garcia-Gimeno L^, Beasley CE^, Fry NW+, Bess J^, Brown MW. 2024. High above the rest: Standing behaviors in the amoebae of Sappinia and Thecamoeba. European Journal of Protistology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2024.126082 @ PDF

74. Fry NW+, Jones RE+, Blandenier Q`, Tice AK`, Porfirio-Sousa AL®, Kleitz-Singleton F+, Henderson T+, Brown MW. 2024. Molecular phylogenetic analyses support the validity of Ceratiomyxa porioides (Amoebozoa, Eumycetozoa) at species level. European Journal of Protistology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2024.126083 @ PDF

73. Jones RE+, Tice AK`, Eliáš M, Eme L, Kolísko M, Nenarokov S, Pánek T, Rokas A, Salomaki E, Strassert JFH, Shen XX, Žihala D, Brown MW. 2024. Create, Analyze, and Visualize Phylogenomic Datasets Using PhyloFisher. Current Protocols. 4(1):e969 https://doi.org/10.1002/cpz1.969 @ PDF

72. Fry NW+, Schuler GA+, Jones RE+, Kooienga PG^, Jira V#, Shepherd M^, Tice AK`, Brown MW. 2024. Living in the cracks: two novel genera of Variosea (Amoebozoa) discovered on an urban sidewalk. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.13020 @ PDF

71. Jones RE+, Jones EP^, Tice AK`, Brown MW. 2023. A PhyloFisher utility for nucleotide-based phylogenomic matrix construction; nucl_matrix_constructor.py. bioRxiv. 2023.11.30.569490. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.11.30.569490 ~ PDF

70. Porfirio-Sousa AL@*, Tice AK`*, Morais L, Ribeiro GM, Blandenier Q, Dumack K, Eglit Y, Fry NW+, Souza MBGE, Henderson T+, Kleitz-Singleton F+, Singer D, Brown MW**, Lahr DJG. 2023**. Amoebozoan testate amoebae illuminate the diversity of heterotrophs and the complexity of ecosystems throughout geological time. bioRxiv 2023.11.08.566222; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.11.08.566222 ~ PDF

69. Sheikh S, Fu CJ, Brown MW, Baldauf SL. 2023. Deep origins of eukaryotic multicellularity revealed by the Acrasis kona genome and developmental transcriptomes, Research Square {preprint} DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2587723/v1 ~ PDF

68. Porfirio-Sousa AL®, Henderson TC+, Brown MW. Effective and efficient cytoskeleton (actin and microtubules) fluorescence staining of adherent eukaryotic cells V.2. Protocols.io DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.kxygxeerzv8j/v2 ~ PDF

67. Tice AK`, Spiegel FW, Brown MW. 2023. Phylogenetic placement of the protosteloid amoeba Microglomus paxillus identifies another case of sporocarpic fruiting in Discosea (Amoebozoa). Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 24:e12971. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.12971 @ PDF

66. Azuma T, Pánek T`, Tice AK`, Kayama M, Kobayashi M, Miyashita H, Suzaki T, Yabuki A, Brown MW*, Kamikawa R*. 2022. The enigmatic stramenopile Actinophrys sol sheds light on early steps for plastid organellogenesis in Ochrophyta. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 39(4):msac065. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msac065 @ *= corresponding authors PDF

65. Tice AK`, Brown MW. 2022. Multicellularity: Amoebae follow the leader to food. Current Biology. 32(9):R418-R420 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.03.067 $ PDF

64. Tice AK`, Žihala D®, Pánek T`, Jones RE+, Salomaki E, Nenarokov S, Burki F, Eliáš M, Eme L, Roger AJ, Rokas A, Shen X, Strassert JFH, Kolísko M, Brown MW. 2021. PhyloFisher: A phylogenomic package for resolving eukaryotic relationships. PLoS Biology. 19(8): e3001365. @ PDF

63. Rodriguez-Caro F, Fenner J, Bhardwaj S, Cole J, Benson JC, Colombara AM, Papa R, Brown MW, Martin A, Range RC, Counterman BA. 2021. Novel doublesex duplication associated with sexually dimorphic development of dogface butterfly wings. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 38(11):5021-5033. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab228 @ PDF

62. Brown MW. 2021. Effective and efficient cytoskeleton (actin and microtubules) fluorescence staining of adherent eukaryotic cells. Protocols.io. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.8wkhxcw ~ PDF

61. Kang S+*, Tice AK`*, Stairs CW, Lahr DJG, Jones RE+, Brown MW. 2021. The integrin-mediated adhesive complex in the ancestor of animals, fungi, and amoebae. Current Biology. 31: 3073-3085. @ (*=contributed equally) PDF

60. Porfírio-Sousa AL®, Tice AK+, Brown MW, Lahr DJG. 2021. Phylogenetic reconstruction and evolution of the Rab GTPase gene family in Amoebozoa. Small GTPases. DOI: 10.1080/21541248.2021.1903794 @ PDF

59. Salomaki E, Eme L, Brown MW, Kolisko M. 2020. Releasing uncurated datasets is essential for reproducible phylogenomics. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 4: 1435–1437. $ PDF

58. Lawal HM, Schilde C, Kin K, Brown MW, James J, Prescott AR, Schaap P. 2020. Cold climate adaptation is a plausible cause for evolution of multicellular sporulation in Dictyostelia. Scientific Reports. 10: 8797. @ PDF

57. Onsbring H*, Tice AK+*, Barton BT, Brown MW”, Ettema TJG”. 2020. An efficient single-cell transcriptomics workflow for microbial eukaryotes benchmarked on Giardia intestinalis cells. BMC Genomics. 21: 448. @ *&”=Contributed equally (first and last). PDF

56. Brown MW, Tice AK+. 2020. A genetic toolbox for marine protists. Nature Methods. 17(5): 469-470. $ PDF

55. Yubuki N, Lopez-Garcia P, Reboul G, Brown MW, Pollet N, Moreira D. 2020. Ancient Adaptive Lateral Gene Transfers in the Symbiotic Opalina - Blastocystis Stramenopile Lineage. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 37: 651–659. @ PDF

54. Burki F, Roger AJ, Brown MW, Simpson AGB. 2020. The new tree of eukaryotes. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 35:43-55. @ PDF

53. Lahr DJG, Kosakyana A, Lara E, Mitchell EAD, Morais L, Porfirio-Sousa AL, Ribeiro GM, Tice AK+, Pánek T`, Kang S+, Brown MW. 2019. Phylogenomics and ancestral morphological reconstruction of testate amoebae demonstrate high diversity of microbial eukaryotes in the Neoproterozoic. Current Biology. 29(6): 911-1003.e3. @ PDF

52. Brown MW, Lahr DJG. 2019. ‘Micro snails’ we scraped from sidewalk cracks help unlock details of ancient earth’s biological evolution. The Conversation. 112362. https://theconversation.com/micro-snails-we-scraped-from-sidewalk-cracks-help-unlock-details-of-ancient-earths-biological-evolution-112362. $ popular science article PDF

51. Fiore-Donno AM, Tice AK+, Brown MW. 2019. A Non-Flagellated Member of the Myxogastria and Expansion of the Echinosteliida. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 66: 538-544. @ PDF

50. Schuler GA+, Brown MW. 2019. Description of Armaparvus languidus n. gen. n. sp. confirms ultrastructural unity of Cutosea (Amoebozoa, Evosea). Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 66: 158-166. @ PDF

49. Adl SM, Bass D, Lane CE, Lukeš J, Schoch CL, Smirnov A, Agatha S, Berney C, Brown MW, Burki F, Cárdenas P, Čepička I, Chistyakova L, del Campo J, Dunthorn M, Edvardsen B, Eglit Y, Guillou L, Hampl V, Heiss AA, Hoppenrath M, James TY, Karpov S, Kim E, Kolisko M, Kudryavtsev A, Lahr DJG, Lara E, Le Gall L, Lynn DH, Mann DG, Massana R, Mitchell EAD, Morrow C, Park JS, Pawlowski JW, Powell MJ, Richter DJ, Rueckert S, Shadwick L, Shimano S, Simpson AGB, Spiegel FW, Torruella G, Youssef N, Zlatogursky V, Zhang Q. 2019. Revisions to the classification, nomenclature, and diversity of eukaryotes. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 66: 4-116. @ PDF

48. del Campo J, Kolisko M, Boscaro V, Santoferrara L, Massana R, Guillou L, Simpson AGB, Berney C, de Vargas C, Kaye J, Bender S, Brown MW, Keeling P, Wegener Parfrey L. 2018. EukRef: phylogenetic curation of ribosomal RNA to enhance understanding of eukaryotic diversity and distribution. PLoS Biology. 16(9): e2005849. @ PDF

47. Hofstatter PG, Brown MW, Lahr DJG. 2018. Comparative genomics supports sex and meiosis in diverse Amoebozoa. Genome Biology and Evolution. 10: 3118-3128. @ PDF

46. Schuler GA+, Tice AK+, Pearce RA, Foreman E^, Stone J, Gammill S, Wilson JD, Reading C, Silberman JD, Brown MW. 2018. Phylogeny and classification of novel diversity in Sainouroidea (Cercozoa, Rhizaria) sheds light on a highly diverse and divergent clade. Protist. 169: 853-874. @ PDF

45. Heiss AA, Kolisko M, Ekelund F, Brown MW, Roger AJ, Simpson AGB. 2018. Combined morphological and phylogenomic re-examination of malawimonads, a critical taxon for inferring the evolutionary history of eukaryotes. Royal Society Open Science. 5: 171707. @ PDF

44. Brown MW, Heiss AA, Kamikawa R, Inagaki Y, Yabuki A, Tice AK+, Shiratori T, Ishida K, Hashimoto T, Simpson AGB, Roger AJ. 2018. Phylogenomics places orphan protistan lineages in a novel eukaryotic super-group. Genome Biology and Evolution. 10:427-433. @ PDF

43. Leonard G, Labarre A, Milner D, Monier A, Soanes D, Wideman JG, Maguire F, Stevens S, Sain D, Grau-Bove X, Sebe-Pedros A, Stajich JE, Paszkiewicz K, Brown MW, Hall N, Wickstead B, Richards TA. 2018. Comparative genomic analysis of the ‘psuedofungus’ Hyphochytrium catenoides. Royal Society Open Biology. 8: 170184. @ PDF

42. Kang S+, Tice AK+, Spiegel FW, Silberman JD, Pánek T, Čepička I, Kostka M, Kosakyan A, Alcântara DM, Roger AJ, Shadwick LL, Smirnov A, Kudryavstev A, Lahr DJG, Brown MW. 2017. Between a pod and a hard test: the deep evolution of amoebae. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 34: 2258-2270. @ PDF

41. Geisen S, Mitchell EAD, Wilkinson DM, Adl S, Bonkowski M, Brown MW, Fiore-Donno AM, Heger TJ, Jassey VEJ, Krashevska V, Lahr DJG, Marcisz K, Mulot M, Payne R, Singer D, Anderson OR, Charman DJ, Ekelund F, Griffiths BS, Rønn R, Smirnov A, Bass D, Belbahri L, Berney C, Blandenier Q, Chatzinotas A, Clarholm M, Dunthorn M, Feest A, Fernandez-Parra LD, Foissner W, Fournier B, Gentekaki E, Hajek M, Helder J, Jousset A, Koller R, Kumar S, La Terza A, Lamentowicz M, Mazei Y, Santos SS, Seppey CVW, Spiegel FW, Walochnik J, Winding A, Lara E. 2017. Soil protistology rebooted: 30 fundamental questions to start with. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 111: 94–103. @ PDF

40. Spiegel FW, Shadwick L, Brown MW, Nderitu G, Aguliar M, Shadwick JDL. 2017. Protosteloid Amoebozoa (Protosteliids, Protosporangiida, Cavostellida, Schizoplasmodiida, Fractoviteliida, and sporocarpic members of Vanellida, Centramoebida, and Pellitida). In Archibald, Simpson, Slamovits (Eds.) Handbook of the Protists (Second Edition of the Handbook of Protoctista by Margulis et al.). Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_12-1 @ PDF

39. Tice AK+, Shadwick LL, Fiore-Donno AM, Geisen S, Kang S+, Schuler GA+, Spiegel FW, Wilkinson K, Bonkowski M, Dumack K, Lahr DJG, Voelcker E, Clauß S, Zhang J, Brown MW. 2016. Expansion of the molecular and morphological diversity of Acanthamoebidae (Centramoebida, Amoebozoa) and identification of a novel life cycle type within the group. Biology Direct. 11:69. @ PDF

38. Pánek T, Simpson AGB, Brown MW, Dyer BD. 2016. Heterolobosea. In Archibald, Simpson, Slamovits (Eds.) Handbook of the Protists (Second Edition of the Handbook of Protoctista by Margulis et al.). Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_10-1. @ PDF

37. Hofstatter P, Tice AK+, Kang S+, Brown MW*, Lahr DJG*. 2016. Evolution of bacterial recombinase A (recA) in eukaryotes explained by addition of genomic data of key microbial lineages. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283: 20161453. @ *Both last authors are corresponding. PDF

36. Heiss AA, Brown MW, Simpson AGB. 2016. Apusomonadida. In Archibald, Simpson, Slamovits (Eds.) Handbook of the Protists (Second Edition of the Handbook of Protoctista by Margulis et al.). Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_15-1 @ PDF

35. Shadwick LL, Brown MW, Tice AK+, Spiegel FW. 2016. A new amoeba with protosteloid fruiting: Luapeleamoeba hula n. g. n. sp. Acta Protozoologica. 55(3): 123-134. @ PDF

34. Gawryluk RMR, Kamikawa R, Stairs CW, Silberman JD, Brown MW, Roger AJ. 2016. The earliest evolutionary stages of mitochondrial adaptation to low oxygen. Current Biology. 26(20): 2729–2738. @ PDF

33. Harding T, Brown MW, Simpson AGB, Roger AJ. 2016. Osmoadaptative strategy and its molecular signature in obligately halophilic heterotrophic protists. Genome Biology and Evolution. 8(7): 2241–2258. @ PDF

32. Hamann E, Gruber-Vodicka H, Kleiner M, Tegetmeyer HE, Riedel D, Littmann S, Chen J, Milucka J, Viehweger B, Becker KW, Dong X, Stairs CW, Hinrichs K, Brown MW, Roger AJ, Strous M. 2016. Environmental Breviatea harbour mutualistic Arcobacter epibionts. Nature. 534: 254-258. @ PDF

31. Noguchi F, Tanifuji G, Brown MW, Fujikura K, Takishita K. 2016. Complex evolution of two types of cardiolipin synthase in the eukaryotic lineage stramenopiles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 101: 133-141. @ PDF

30. Tice AK+, Brown MW, Altig R. 2016. Hyla chrysoscelis (Cope’s gray treefrog), H. avivoca (bird-voiced treefrog), and H. cinerea (green treefrog). Interactions of protozoans and algae with frog eggs and tadpoles. Herpetological Review. 47(3): 438-439. $ PDF

29. Walthall AC^, Tice AK+, Brown MW. 2016. A new species of Flamella (Amoebozoa, Variosea, Gracilipodida) isolated from a freshwater pool in southern Mississippi, USA. Acta Protozoologica. 55(2): 111-117. @ PDF

28. Tice AK+, Silberman JD, Walthall AC^, Le KND, Spiegel FW, Brown MW. 2016. Sorodiplophrys stercorea: another novel lineage of sorocarpic multicellularity. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 63(5): 623-628. @ PDF

27. Bass D, Silberman JD, Brown MW, Pearce RA, Tice AK+, Jousset A, Geisen S, Hartikainen H. 2016. Coprophilic amoebae and flagellates, including Guttulinopsis, Rosculus and Helkesimastix, characterise a divergent and diverse rhizarian radiation and contribute to a large diversity of faecal-associated protists. Environmental Microbiology. 18(5): 1604-1619. @ PDF

26. Pánek T, Zadrobílková E, Walker G, Brown MW, Gentekaki E, Hroudová M, Kang S+, Roger AJ, Tice AK+, Vlček C, Čepička I. 2016. First multigene analysis of Archamoebae (Amoebozoa: Conosa) robustly reveals its phylogeny and shows that Entamoebidae represents a deep lineage of the group. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 98: 41-51. @ PDF

25. Brown LR, Gunnell SM, Cassella A, Keller LE, Scherkenbach LA, Mann B, Brown MW, Rosch JW, Tuomanen EI, Thornton JA. 2016. AdcAII of Streptococcus pneumoniae affects pneumococcal invasiveness. PLoS ONE. 11(1): e0146785. @ PDF

24. Sharpe SC, Eme L, Brown MW, Roger AJ. 2015. Timing the origins of multicellular eukaryotes through phylogenomics and relaxed molecular clock analyses. In Nedelcu, Ruiz-Trillo (Eds.) Evolutionary transitions to multicellular life: Principles and mechanisms. Springer, New York. pp. 3-29. ISBN: 978-94-017-9641-5. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-9642-2_1. @ PDF

23. Maguire F, Henriquez F, Leonard G, Dacks JB, Brown MW, Richards TA. 2014. Complex patterns of gene fusion and fission in the eukaryotic folate biosynthesis pathway. Genome Biology and Evolution. 6(10): 2709-2720. @ PDF

22. Watson PM^, Sorrell SC^, Brown MW. 2014. Ptolemeba n. gen., a novel genus of hartmannellid amoebae (Tubulinea, Amoebozoa); with an emphasis on the taxonomy of Saccamoeba. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 61(6): 611-619. @ PDF

21. Eme L, Sharpe SC, Brown MW, Roger AJ. 2014. On the age of eukaryotes: Evaluating evidence from fossils and molecular clocks. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology. 6: a016139. Online publication, but also printed in Keeling, Koonin (Eds.) The Origin and Evolution of Eukaryotes, a subject collection from Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology. pp. 165-180. @ PDF

20. Stairs CW, Eme L, Brown MW, Mutsaers C, Susko E, Dellaire G, Soanes DM, van der Giezen M, Roger AJ. 2014. A SUF Fe-S cluster biogenesis system in the mitochondrion-related organelles of the microaerophilic protist Pygsuia. Current Biology. 24: 1176-1186. @ PDF

19. Kudryavtsev A, Brown MW, Tice AK, Spiegel FW, Pawlowski J, Anderson OR. 2014. A revision of the order Pellitida Smirnov et al., 2011 (Amoebozoa, Discosea) based on ultrastructural and molecular evidence, with description of Endostelium crystalliferum n. sp. Protist. 165(2): 208-229. @ PDF

18. Tanifuji G, Onodera N, Brown MW, Curtis BA, Roger AJ, Wong GK, Melkonian M, Archibald JM. 2014. Nucleomorph and plastid genome sequences of the chlorarachniophyte Lotharella oceanica: convergent reductive evolution and frequent recombination in nucleomorph-bearing algae. BMC Genomics. 15: 374. @ PDF

17. Suga H, Torruella G, Burger G, Brown MW, Ruiz-Trillo I. 2014. Earliest holozoan expansion of phosphotyrosine signaling. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 31(3): 517-528. @ PDF

16. Kamikawa R, Kolisko M, Nishimura Y, Yabuki A, Brown MW, Ishikawa SA, Ishida K, Simpson AGB, Roger AJ, Hashimoto T, Inagaki Y. 2014. Gene-content evolution in discobid mitochondria deduced from the phylogenetic position and complete mitochondrial genome of Tsukubamonas globosa. Genome Biology and Evolution. 6(2): 306–315. @ PDF

15. Brown MW, Sharpe S, Silberman JD, Heiss A, Lang BF, Simpson AGB, Roger AJ. 2013 Phylogenomics demonstrates that breviate flagellates are related to opisthokonts. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 280: 20131755. @ PDF

14. Brown MW*, Silberman JD. 2013. The Non-Dictyostelid Sorocarpic Amoebae. In Romeralo, Escalante, Baldauf (Eds.) Dictyostelids - Evolution, Genomics and Cell Biology. Springer, Heidelberg Germany. pp. 219-242. ISBN: 978-3-642-38487-5. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-38487-5_12. *Senior & Corresponding Author. $ PDF

13. Suga H, Chen Z, de Mendoza A, Sebé-Pedrós A, Brown MW, Kramer E, Carr M, Kerner P, Vervoort M, Sánchez-Pons N, Torruella G, Derelle R, Manning G, Lang BF, Russ C, Haas BJ, Roger AJ, Nusbaum C, Ruiz-Trillo I. 2013. The Capsaspora genome reveals a complex unicellular prehistory of animals. Nature Communications. 4: 2325. @ PDF

12. Kamikawa R, Brown MW, Nishimura Y, Sako Y, Heiss AA, Yubuki N, Gawryluk R, Simpson AGB, Roger AJ, Hashimoto T, Inagaki Y. 2013. Parallel re-modeling of EF-1α function: divergent EF-1α genes co-occur with EFL genes in diverse distantly related eukaryotes. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 13: 131. @ PDF

11. Harding T, Brown MW, Plotnikov A, Selivanova E, Park JS, Gunderson JH, Baumgartner M, Silberman JD, Roger AJ, Simpson AGB. 2013. Amoeba stages in the deepest branching heteroloboseans, including Pharyngomonas: evolutionary and systematic implications. Protist. 164(2): 272-286. @ PDF

10. Adl SM, Simpson AGB, Lane CE, Lukes J, Bass D, Bowser SS, Brown MW, Burki F, Dunthorn M, Hampl V, Heiss A, Hoppenrath M, Lara E, Legall L, Lynn DH, McManus H, Mitchell EAD, Mozley-Stanridge SE, Parfrey LW, Pawlowski J, Rueckert S, Shadwick LL, Schoch C, Smirnov A, Spiegel FW. 2012. The revised classification of eukaryotes. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 59(5): 429–514. @ PDF

9. Schnittler M, Novozhilov YK, Romeralo M, Brown MW, Fiore-Donno AM. 2012. Fruit body-forming protists: Myxomycetes and Myxomycete-like organisms Acrasia, Eumycetozoa. In Frey (Ed.) Engler’s Syllabus of Plant Families, 13th ed. Part 1: Blue-green Algae, Myxomycetes and Myxomycete-like Organisms, Phytoparasitic protists, Heterotrophic Heterokontobionta and Fungi. Borntraeger Science Publishers, Berlin. pp. 40-88. ISBN 978-3-443-01061-4. DOI: 10.13140/2.1.4668.9284. $ PDF

8. Brown MW, Kolisko M, Silberman JD, Roger AJ. 2012. Aggregative multicellularity evolved independently in the eukaryotic supergroup Rhizaria. Current Biology. 22(12): 1123-1127. @ PDF

7. Brown MW, Silberman JD, Spiegel FW. 2012. A contemporary evaluation of the acrasids (Acrasidae, Heterolobosea, Excavata). European Journal of Protistology. 48(2): 103-123. Invited manuscript. @ PDF

6. Brown MW, Silberman JD, Spiegel FW. 2011. “Slime molds” among the Tubulinea (Amoebozoa): Molecular systematics and taxonomy of Copromyxa. Protist. 162: 277-287. @ PDF

5. Brown MW, Silberman JD, Spiegel FW. 2010. A morphologically simple species of Acrasis (Heterolobosea, Excavata), Acrasis helenhemmesae n. sp. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 57(4): 346-353. @ PDF

4. Brown MW, Spiegel FW, Silberman JD. 2009. Phylogeny of the “forgotten” cellular slime mold, Fonticula alba, reveals a key evolutionary branch within Opisthokonta. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 26(12): 2699-2709. @ PDF

3. Shadwick LL, Spiegel FW, Shadwick JDL, Brown MW, Silberman JD. 2009. Eumycetozoa = Amoebozoa?: SSUrDNA Phylogeny of Protosteloid Slime Molds and its Significance for the Supergroup Amoebozoa. PLoS ONE. 4(8): e6754. @ PDF

2. Spiegel FW, Shadwick JD, Lindley LA, Brown MW, Nderitu G. 2007. A Beginner’s Guide to Identifying the Protostelids. http://slimemold.uark.edu/pdfs/Handbook1_3rd.pdf ~ PDF

1. Brown MW, Spiegel FW, Silberman JD. 2007. Amoeba at Attention: Phylogenetic Affinity of Sappinia pedata. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 54(6): 511-519. @ PDF


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