How the Cytoskeleton Recognizes and Sorts Nuclei of Opposite Mating Type during the Sexual Cycle in Filamentous Ascomycetes

1994 ◽  
Vol 165 (1) ◽  
pp. 257-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Thompson-Coffe ◽  
Denise Zickler
1969 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 689-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Branch Howe Jr. ◽  
V. Prakash

A cross made by adding conidia to protoperithecia on a mycelium of opposite mating type inhibits a subsequent cross on the same mycelium, or on an adjacent mycelium connected either by hyphae or medium. The inhibitory activity reaches a steady rate of movement through the area of the second cross from the area of the first cross and brings about either total or partial inhibition of the second cross, depending upon certain controllable variables; translocation of the activity occurs primarily through the hyphae but to a lesser degree through the medium as well. Total inhibition is not a result of modification of the medium by the first cross, such as depletion of nutrients or change in pH. An uncrossed mycelium which received activity from a crossed mycelium becomes inhibited either irreversibly or, to a certain extent, reversibly, depending upon the degree of activity received; in either event, transmission of this passive activity may occur from this mycelium to an outgrowing mycelium on fresh medium. The experiments reported here were done primarily with N. tetrasperma, in which the inhibitory effect was first found, but the effect has also been observed in N. crassa.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikas Yadav ◽  
Sheng Sun ◽  
Joseph Heitman

AbstractSome animal species require an opposite-sex partner for their sexual development but discard the partner’s genome before gamete formation, generating hemi-clonal progeny in a process called hybridogenesis. In this study, we discovered hybridogenesis-like reproduction in a basidiomycete fungus, Cryptococcus neoformans. C. neoformans has two mating types, MATa and MATα, which fuse to produce a dikaryotic zygote that completes a sexual cycle producing recombinant meiotic progeny. Here, we discovered exclusive uniparental inheritance of nuclear genetic material in a fraction of the F1 progeny produced during bisexual reproduction of two opposite mating-type partners. By analyzing strains expressing fluorescent reporter proteins, we observed that dikaryotic hyphae were produced, but only one parental nuclei was found in the terminal basidium where sporulation occurs. Whole-genome sequencing revealed the nuclear genome of the progeny was identical with one or the other parental genome, whereas the mitochondrial genome was always inherited from the MATa parent. Uniparental sporulation was also observed in natural isolate crosses occurring in concert with biparental sporulation. The meiotic recombinase Dmc1 was found to be critical for uniparental reproduction. These findings reveal an unusual mode of eukaryotic microbial unisexual reproduction that shares features with hybridogenesis in animals.


1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 788-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo D. Martinez-Espinoza ◽  
Karla J. Dugan ◽  
Michael E. Bjarko ◽  
John E. Sherwood

The sexual cycle of Ustilago hordei, which results in the formation of teliospores, requires growth on its barley host for completion. However, the early steps of mating, including conjugation and the formation of dikaryotic mycelium, can occur on artificial media. The addition of activated charcoal to a variety of media enhanced the stability and intensity of the mating reaction as measured by mycelium formation. The incubation time at which the strongest mating reaction occurred was also reduced. The dikaryotic nature of the mycelia that resulted from mating on charcoal-containing media was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy. Complementation assays using minimal medium containing activated charcoal demonstrated allelism of mutations in auxotrophic sporidial strains of opposite mating type. The ease and reliability of this mating test allow for rapid identification of the mating type of unknown isolates and progeny of crosses, as well as providing a dependable procedure for performing complementation tests. Key words: barley, covered smut, Hordeum vulgare, mating type.


Genetics ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 601-619
Author(s):  
Karen P VanWinkle-Swift ◽  
Jang-Hee Hahn

ABSTRACT The non-Mendelian erythromycin resistance mutation ery-u1 shows bidirectional uniparental inheritance in crosses between homothallic ery-u1 and ery-u1  + strains of Chlamydomonas monoica. This inheritance pattern supports a general model for homothallism invoking intrastrain differentiation into opposite compatible mating types and, further, suggests that non-Mendelian inheritance is under mating-type (mt) control in C. monoica as in heterothallic species. However, the identification of genes expressed or required by one gametic cell type, but not the other, is essential to verify the existence of a regulatory mating-type locus in C. monoica and to understand its role in cell differentiation and sexual development. By screening for a shift from bidirectional to unidirectional transmission of the non-Mendelian ery-u1 marker, a mutant with an apparent mating-type-limited sexual cycle defect was obtained. The responsible mutation, mtl-1, causes a 1000-fold reduction in zygospore germination in populations homozygous for the mutant allele and, approximately, a 50% reduction in germination for heterozygous (mtl-1/mtl-1  +) zygospores. By next screening for strains unable to yield any viable zygospores in a cross to mtl-1, a second putative mating-type-limited mutant, mtl-2, was obtained. The mtl-2 strain, although self-sterile, mates efficiently with mtl-2  + strains and shows a unidirectional uniparental pattern of inheritance for the ery-u1 cytoplasmic marker, similar to that observed for crosses involving mtl-1. Genetic analysis indicates that mtl-1 and mtl-2 define unique unlinked Mendelian loci and that the sexual cycle defects of reduced germination (mtl-1) or self-sterility (mtl-2) cosegregate with the effect on ery-u1 cytoplasmic gene transmission. By analogy to C. reinhardtii, the mtl-1 and mtl-2 phenotypes can be explained if the expression of these gene loci is limited to the mt  + gametic cell type, or if the wild-type alleles at these loci are required for the normal formation and/or functioning of mt  + gametes only.


1975 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. DeLange ◽  
A. J. F. Griffiths

In Neurospora crassa, strains of opposite mating type generally do not form stable heterokaryons because the mating type locus acts as a heterokaryon incompatibility locus. However, when one A and one a strain, having complementing auxotrophic mutants, are placed together on minimal medium, growth may occur, although the growth is generally slow. In this study, escape from such slow growth to that at a wild type or near-wild type rate was observed. The escaped cultures are stable heterokaryons, mostly having lost the mating type allele function from one component nucleus, so that the nuclear types are heterokaryon compatible. Either A or a mating type can be lost. This loss of function has been attributed to deletion since only one nuclear type could be recovered in all heterokaryons except one, but deletion spanning adjacent loci has been directly demonstrated in a minority of cases. Alternatively when one component strain is tol and the other tol+ (tol being a recessive mutant suppressing the heterokaryon incompatibility associated with mating type), escape may occur by the deletion or mutation of tol+, also resulting in heterokaryon compatibility. An induction mechanism for escape is speculated upon.


Genetics ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
N L Glass ◽  
L Lee

Abstract In the filamentous fungus, Neurospora crassa, mating type is regulated by a single locus with alternate alleles, termed A and a. The mating type alleles control entry into the sexual cycle, but during vegetative growth they function to elicit heterokaryon incompatibility, such that fusion of A and a hypha results in death of cells along the fusion point. Previous studies have shown that the A allele consists of 5301 bp and has no similarity to the a allele; it is found as a single copy and only within the A genome. The a allele is 3235 bp in length and it, too, is found as a single copy within the a genome. Within the A sequence, a single open reading frame (ORF) of 288 amino acids (mt A-1) is thought to confer fertility and heterokaryon incompatibility. In this study, we have used repeat induced point (RIP) mutation to identify functional regions of the A idiomorph. RIP mutations in mt A-1 resulted in the isolation of sterile, heterokaryon-compatible mutants, while RIP mutations generated in a region outside of mt A-1 resulted in the isolation of mutants capable of mating, but deficient in ascospore formation.


Mycologia ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 91 (5) ◽  
pp. 858-870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Anikster ◽  
T. Eilam ◽  
L. Mittelman ◽  
L.J. Szabo ◽  
W. R. Bushnell

1956 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Silver Dowding ◽  
A. Bakerspigel

Anomalous sterility and slow fruiting occur among the following types of cultures: (1) mated homokaryotic mycelia grown from dwarf ascospores; (2) heterokaryotic mycelia grown from normal-sized ascospores; (3) hyphal-tip cultures from heterokaryotic mycelia. Such behavior may be caused by a mutant nucleus whose nutritional factors do not complement those in the nuclei of opposite mating type. Among the sterile and slow-fruiting strains were found 'barrage' mutants. They differ in texture and growth rate from wild strains. When grown in pairs, their hyphac, as they approach each other, exhibit aversion or barrage. Progeny of mated barrage strains are likewise barrage strains.


1982 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
R K Chan ◽  
C A Otte

Eight independently isolated mutants which are supersensitive (Sst-) to the G1 arrest induced by the tridecapeptide pheromone alpha factor were identified by screening mutagenized Saccharomyces cerevisiae MATa cells on solid medium for increased growth inhibition by alpha factor. These mutants carried lesions in two complementation groups, sst1 and sst2. Mutations at the sst1 locus were mating type specific: MATa sst1 cells were supersensitive to alpha factor, but MAT alpha sst1 cells were not supersensitive to a factor. In contrast, mutations at the sst2 locus conferred supersensitivity to the pheromones of the opposite mating type on both MATa and MAT alpha cells. Even in the absence of added alpha pheromone, about 10% of the cells in exponentially growing cultures of MATa strains carrying any of three different alleles of sst2 (including the ochre mutation sst2-4) had the aberrant morphology ("shmoo" shape) that normally develops only after MATa cells are exposed to alpha factor. This "self-shmooing" phenotype was genetically linked to the sst2 mutations, although the leakiest allele isolated (sst2-3) did not display this characteristic. Normal MATa/MAT alpha diploids do not respond to pheromones; diploids homozygous for an sst2 mutation (MATa/MAT alpha sst2-1/sst2-1) were still insensitive to alpha factor. The sst1 gene was mapped to within 6.9 centimorgans of his6 on chromosome IX. The sst2 gene was unlinked to sst1, was not centromere linked, and was shown to be neither linked to nor centromere distal to MAT on the right arm of chromosome III.


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