Fungal mating type genes — regulators of sexual development

1992 ◽  
Vol 96 (12) ◽  
pp. 993-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula Kües ◽  
Lorna A. Casselton
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
Fungal Mating ◽  
Mating Type Genes

scholarly journals Deletion of the Schizophyllum commune Aα Locus: The Roles of Aα Y and Z Mating-Type Genes

Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 144 (4) ◽  
pp. 1437-1444
Author(s):  
C Ian Robertson ◽  
Kirk A Bartholomew ◽  
Charles P Novotny ◽  
Robert C Ullrich
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
Schizophyllum Commune ◽  
Mating Types ◽  
Developmental Pathway ◽  
Mating Type Gene ◽  
Mating Type Genes ◽  
Regulatory Loci ◽  
Type Gene

The Aα locus is one of four master regulatory loci that determine mating type and regulate sexual development in Schizophyllum commune. We have made a plasmid containing a URA1 gene disruption of the Aα Y1 gene. Y1 is the sole Aα gene in Aα1 strains. We used the plasmid construction to produce an Aα null (i.e., AαΔ) strain by replacing the genomic Y1 gene with URA1 in an Aα1 strain. To characterize the role of the Aα genes in the regulation of sexual development, we transformed various Aα Y and Z alleles into AαΔ strains and examined the acquired mating types and mating abilities of the transformants. These experiments demonstrate that the Aα Y gene is not essential for fungal viability and growth, that a solitary Z Aα mating-type gene does not itself activate development, that Aβ proteins are sufficient to activate the A developmental pathway in the absence of Aα proteins and confirm that Y and Z genes are the sole determinants of Aα mating type. The data from these experiments support and refine our model of the regulation of A-pathway events by Y and Z proteins.

scholarly journals Functional Characterization of MAT1-1-Specific Mating-Type Genes in the Homothallic Ascomycete Sordaria macrospora Provides New Insights into Essential and Nonessential Sexual Regulators

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 894-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Klix ◽  
M. Nowrousian ◽  
C. Ringelberg ◽  
J. J. Loros ◽  
J. C. Dunlap ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
Fruiting Body ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sordaria Macrospora ◽  
Body Development ◽  
Protein Encoding ◽  
Fruiting Body Development ◽  
Mating Type Genes ◽  
Domain Protein

ABSTRACT Mating-type genes in fungi encode regulators of mating and sexual development. Heterothallic ascomycete species require different sets of mating-type genes to control nonself-recognition and mating of compatible partners of different mating types. Homothallic (self-fertile) species also carry mating-type genes in their genome that are essential for sexual development. To analyze the molecular basis of homothallism and the role of mating-type genes during fruiting-body development, we deleted each of the three genes, SmtA-1 (MAT1-1-1), SmtA-2 (MAT1-1-2), and SmtA-3 (MAT1-1-3), contained in the MAT1-1 part of the mating-type locus of the homothallic ascomycete species Sordaria macrospora. Phenotypic analysis of deletion mutants revealed that the PPF domain protein-encoding gene SmtA-2 is essential for sexual reproduction, whereas the α domain protein-encoding genes SmtA-1 and SmtA-3 play no role in fruiting-body development. By means of cross-species microarray analysis using Neurospora crassa oligonucleotide microarrays hybridized with S. macrospora targets and quantitative real-time PCR, we identified genes expressed under the control of SmtA-1 and SmtA-2. Both genes are involved in the regulation of gene expression, including that of pheromone genes.

scholarly journals Functional Analysis of Mating Type Genes and Transcriptome Analysis during Fruiting Body Development of Botrytis cinerea

mBio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sander Y. A. Rodenburg ◽  
Razak B. Terhem ◽  
Javier Veloso ◽  
Joost H. M. Stassen ◽  
Jan A. L. van Kan
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Sexual Reproduction ◽  
Botrytis Cinerea ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
Deletion Mutants ◽  
Fruiting Bodies ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
Transcriptional Changes ◽  
Mating Type Genes

ABSTRACT Botrytis cinerea is a plant-pathogenic fungus producing apothecia as sexual fruiting bodies. To study the function of mating type (MAT) genes, single-gene deletion mutants were generated in both genes of the MAT1-1 locus and both genes of the MAT1-2 locus. Deletion mutants in two MAT genes were entirely sterile, while mutants in the other two MAT genes were able to develop stipes but never formed an apothecial disk. Little was known about the reprogramming of gene expression during apothecium development. We analyzed transcriptomes of sclerotia, three stages of apothecium development (primordia, stipes, and apothecial disks), and ascospores by RNA sequencing. Ten secondary metabolite gene clusters were upregulated at the onset of sexual development and downregulated in ascospores released from apothecia. Notably, more than 3,900 genes were differentially expressed in ascospores compared to mature apothecial disks. Among the genes that were upregulated in ascospores were numerous genes encoding virulence factors, which reveals that ascospores are transcriptionally primed for infection prior to their arrival on a host plant. Strikingly, the massive transcriptional changes at the initiation and completion of the sexual cycle often affected clusters of genes, rather than randomly dispersed genes. Thirty-five clusters of genes were jointly upregulated during the onset of sexual reproduction, while 99 clusters of genes (comprising >900 genes) were jointly downregulated in ascospores. These transcriptional changes coincided with changes in expression of genes encoding enzymes participating in chromatin organization, hinting at the occurrence of massive epigenetic regulation of gene expression during sexual reproduction. IMPORTANCE Fungal fruiting bodies are formed by sexual reproduction. We studied the development of fruiting bodies (“apothecia”) of the ubiquitous plant-pathogenic ascomycete Botrytis cinerea. The role of mating type genes in apothecium development was investigated by targeted mutation. Two genes are essential for the initiation of sexual development; mutants in these genes are sterile. Two other genes were not essential for development of stipes; however, they were essential for stipes to develop a disk and produce sexual ascospores. We examined gene expression profiles during apothecium development, as well as in ascospores sampled from apothecia. We provide the first study ever of the transcriptome of pure ascospores in a filamentous fungus. The expression of numerous genes involved in plant infection was induced in the ascospores, implying that ascospores are developmentally primed for infection before their release from apothecia.

scholarly journals Molecular Genetics of Mating Recognition in Basidiomycete Fungi

1998 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorna A. Casselton ◽  
Natalie S. Olesnicky
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
Schizophyllum Commune ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Podospora Anserina ◽  
Mating Types ◽  
Active Transcription ◽  
Mating Type Genes ◽  
Type Gene ◽  
Basidiomycete Fungi

SUMMARY The recognition of compatible mating partners in the basidiomycete fungi requires the coordinated activities of two gene complexes defined as the mating-type genes. One complex encodes members of the homeobox family of transcription factors, which heterodimerize on mating to generate an active transcription regulator. The other complex encodes peptide pheromones and 7-transmembrane receptors that permit intercellular signalling. Remarkably, a single species may have many thousands of cross-compatible mating types because the mating-type genes are multiallelic. Different alleles of both sets of genes are necessary for mating compatibility, and they trigger the initial stages of sexual development—the formation of a specialized filamentous mycelium termed the dikaryon, in which the haploid nuclei remain closely associated in each cell but do not fuse. Three species have been taken as models to describe the molecular structure and organization of the mating-type loci and the genes sequestered within them: the pathogenic smut fungus Ustilago maydis and the mushrooms Coprinus cinereus and Schizophyllum commune. Topics addressed in this review are the roles of the mating-type gene products in regulating sexual development, the molecular basis for multiple mating types, and the molecular interactions that permit different allelic products of the mating type genes to be discriminated. Attention is drawn to the remarkable conservation in the mechanisms that regulate sexual development in basidiomycetes and unicellular ascomycete yeasts, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a theme which is developed in the general conclusion to include the filamentous ascomycetes Neurospora crassa and Podospora anserina.

Mating type control of sexual development inCoprinus cinereus

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (S1) ◽  
pp. 266-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Casselton ◽  
R. N. Asante-Owusu ◽  
A. H. Banham ◽  
C. S. Kingsnorth ◽  
U. Kües ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
Schizophyllum Commune ◽  
Homeodomain Proteins ◽  
Binding Motifs ◽  
Pheromone Response Pathway ◽  
Dna Binding Motifs ◽  
Mating Compatibility ◽  
Mating Type Genes ◽  
Combinatorial Interactions

The multiallelic mating type genes of the hymenomycete fungus Coprinus cinereus determine mating compatibility by regulating a developmental sequence that converts an asexual monokaryon into a fertile dikaryon. The genes map to two loci, A and B, and mating compatibility requires different alleles of genes at both loci. The A genes encode two classes of proteins with conserved but dissimilar homeodomain DNA binding motifs (HD1 and HD2), which identify their role in development as transcriptional regulators. Transformation studies with cloned genes suggest that a compatible mating is sensed by combinatorial interactions between an HD1 and HD2 protein and that the N-terminal regions of these proteins are implicated in the specificity of this interaction. The B genes of C. cinereus have been cloned but their function is, as yet, unknown. In another species, Schizophyllum commune, the B genes encode pheromones and pheromone receptors. Although a pheromone response pathway is not apparent in cell fusion in hymenomycetes, it now seems likely to be involved in maintenance of dikaryotic growth. Key words: Coprinus, hymenomycete, mating type, homeodomain proteins, pheromones and receptors, sexual development.

scholarly journals Mating-Type Locus of Cryptococcus neoformans: a Step in the Evolution of Sex Chromosomes

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 704-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus B. Lengeler ◽  
Deborah S. Fox ◽  
James A. Fraser ◽  
Andria Allen ◽  
Keri Forrester ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cryptococcus Neoformans ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Sex Chromosomes ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Locus ◽  
Fungal Mating ◽  
Kinase Cascade ◽  
Nonself Recognition

ABSTRACT The sexual development and virulence of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans is controlled by a bipolar mating system determined by a single locus that exists in two alleles, α and a. The α and a mating-type alleles from two divergent varieties were cloned and sequenced. The C. neoformans mating-type locus is unique, spans >100 kb, and contains more than 20 genes. MAT-encoded products include homologs of regulators of sexual development in other fungi, pheromone and pheromone receptors, divergent components of a MAP kinase cascade, and other proteins with no obvious function in mating. The α and a alleles of the mating-type locus have extensively rearranged during evolution and strain divergence but are stable during genetic crosses and in the population. The C. neoformans mating-type locus is strikingly different from the other known fungal mating-type loci, sharing features with the self-incompatibility systems and sex chromosomes of algae, plants, and animals. Our study establishes a new paradigm for mating-type loci in fungi with implications for the evolution of cell identity and self/nonself recognition.

Identity and conservation of mating type genes in geographically diverse isolates of Phaeosphaeria nodorum

2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.S Bennett ◽  
S.-H Yun ◽  
T.Y Lee ◽  
B.G Turgeon ◽  
E Arseniuk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Phaeosphaeria Nodorum ◽  
Mating Type Genes

scholarly journals Cloning and characterization of four SIR genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 688-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
J M Ivy ◽  
A J Klar ◽  
J B Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Blot Analysis ◽  
Transcriptional Control ◽  
Genomic Library ◽  
Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Mating Type Genes ◽  
Rna Blots

Mating type in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is determined by the MAT (a or alpha) locus. HML and HMR, which usually contain copies of alpha and a mating type information, respectively, serve as donors in mating type interconversion and are under negative transcriptional control. Four trans-acting SIR (silent information regulator) loci are required for repression of transcription. A defect in any SIR gene results in expression of both HML and HMR. The four SIR genes were isolated from a genomic library by complementation of sir mutations in vivo. DNA blot analysis suggests that the four SIR genes share no sequence homology. RNA blots indicate that SIR2, SIR3, and SIR4 each encode one transcript and that SIR1 encodes two transcripts. Null mutations, made by replacement of the normal genomic allele with deletion-insertion mutations created in the cloned SIR genes, have a Sir- phenotype and are viable. Using the cloned genes, we showed that SIR3 at a high copy number is able to suppress mutations of SIR4. RNA blot analysis suggests that this suppression is not due to transcriptional regulation of SIR3 by SIR4; nor does any SIR4 gene transcriptionally regulate another SIR gene. Interestingly, a truncated SIR4 gene disrupts regulation of the silent mating type loci. We propose that interaction of at least the SIR3 and SIR4 gene products is involved in regulation of the silent mating type genes.

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