scholarly journals Mating-Type Genes From the Homothallic Fungus Sordaria macrospora Are Functionally Expressed in a Heterothallic Ascomycete

Genetics ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 147 (2) ◽  
pp. 567-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Pöggeler ◽  
Siegfried Risch ◽  
Ulrich Kück ◽  
Heinz D Osiewacz
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Fruiting Body ◽  
Podospora Anserina ◽  
Open Reading Frames ◽  
Fruiting Body Formation ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Sordaria Macrospora ◽  
Mating Type Locus ◽  
Body Development ◽  
Mating Type Genes

Homokaryons from the homothallic ascomycte Sordaria macrospora are able to enter the sexual pathway and to form fertile fruiting bodies. To analyze the molecular basis of homothallism and to elucidate the role of mating-products during fruiting body development, we cloned and sequenced the entire S. macrospora mating-type locus. Comparison of the Sordaria mating-type locus with mating-type idiomorphs from the heterothallic ascomycetes Neurospora crassa and Podospora anserina revealed that sequences from both idiomorphs (A/a and mat–/mat+, respectively) are contiguous in S. macrospora. DNA sequencing of the S. macrospora mating-type region allowed the identification of four open reading frames (ORFs), which were termed Smt-a1, SmtA-1, SmtA-2 and SmtA-3. While Smt-a1, SmtA-1, and SmtA-2 show strong sequence similarities with the corresponding N. crassa mating-type ORFs, SmtA-3 has a chimeric character. It comprises sequences that are similar to the A and a mating-type idiomorph from N. crassa. To determine functionality of the S. macrospora mating-type genes, we show that all ORFs are transcriptionally expressed. Furthermore, we transformed the S. macrospora mating-type genes into mat– and mat+ strains of the closely related heterothallic fungus P. anserina. The transformation experiments show that mating-type genes from S. macrospora induce fruiting body formation in P. anserina.

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 A MADS Box Protein Interacts with a Mating-Type Protein and Is Required for Fruiting Body Development in the Homothallic Ascomycete Sordaria macrospora

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 1043-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Nolting ◽  
Stefanie Pöggeler
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Fruiting Body ◽  
Mads Box ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Sordaria Macrospora ◽  
Body Development ◽  
Fruiting Body Development ◽  
Putative Transcription Factor ◽  
Putative Homologue

ABSTRACT MADS box transcription factors control diverse developmental processes in plants, metazoans, and fungi. To analyze the involvement of MADS box proteins in fruiting body development of filamentous ascomycetes, we isolated the mcm1 gene from the homothallic ascomycete Sordaria macrospora, which encodes a putative homologue of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae MADS box protein Mcm1p. Deletion of the S. macrospora mcm1 gene resulted in reduced biomass, increased hyphal branching, and reduced hyphal compartment length during vegetative growth. Furthermore, the S. macrospora Δmcm1 strain was unable to produce fruiting bodies or ascospores during sexual development. A yeast two-hybrid analysis in conjugation with in vitro analyses demonstrated that the S. macrospora MCM1 protein can interact with the putative transcription factor SMTA-1, encoded by the S. macrospora mating-type locus. These results suggest that the S. macrospora MCM1 protein is involved in the transcriptional regulation of mating-type-specific genes as well as in fruiting body development.

scholarly journals Size variation of the non-recombining region on the mating-type chromosomes in the fungal Podospora anserina species complex

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanny E Hartmann ◽  
S Lorena Ament-Velásquez ◽  
Aaron A Vogan ◽  
Valérie Gautier ◽  
Stephanie Le Prieur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Sex Chromosomes ◽  
Chromosomal Rearrangements ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Sequence Divergence ◽  
Podospora Anserina ◽  
Strong Linkage Disequilibrium ◽  
Mating Types ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Locus

Abstract Sex chromosomes often carry large non-recombining regions that can extend progressively over time, generating evolutionary strata of sequence divergence. However, some sex chromosomes display an incomplete suppression of recombination. Large genomic regions without recombination and evolutionary strata have also been documented around fungal mating-type loci, but have been studied in only a few fungal systems. In the model fungus Podospora anserina (Ascomycota, Sordariomycetes), the reference S strain lacks recombination across a 0.8 Mb region around the mating-type locus. The lack of recombination in this region ensures that nuclei of opposite mating types are packaged into a single ascospore (pseudo-homothallic lifecycle). We found evidence for a lack of recombination around the mating-type locus in the genomes of 10 P. anserina strains and six closely related pseudo-homothallic Podospora species. Importantly, the size of the non-recombining region differed between strains and species, as indicated by the heterozygosity levels around the mating-type locus and experimental selfing. The non-recombining region is probably labile and polymorphic, differing in size and precise location within and between species, resulting in occasional, but infrequent, recombination at a given base pair. This view is also supported by the low divergence between mating types, and the lack of strong linkage disequilibrium, chromosomal rearrangements, trans-specific polymorphism and genomic degeneration. We found a pattern suggestive of evolutionary strata in P. pseudocomata. The observed heterozygosity levels indicate low but non-null outcrossing rates in nature in these pseudo-homothallic fungi. This study adds to our understanding of mating-type chromosome evolution and its relationship to mating systems.

scholarly journals rme1 Mutation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: map position and bypass of mating type locus control of sporulation.

1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 958-960 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Rine ◽  
G F Sprague ◽  
I Herskowitz
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Locus ◽  
Type Information

Sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae normally occurs only in MATa/MAT alpha diploids. We show that mutations in RME1 bypassed the requirements for both a and alpha mating type information in sporulation and therefore allowed MATa/MATa and MAT alpha/MAT alpha diploids to sporulate. RME1 was located on chromosome VII, between LEU1 and ADE6.

Transformation of protoplasted yeast cells is directly associated with cell fusion

1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 771-778
Author(s):  
S Harashima ◽  
A Takagi ◽  
Y Oshima
Keyword(s):  
Cell Fusion ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Nuclear Fusion ◽  
Yeast Cells ◽  
Nuclear Markers ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Locus ◽  
Yeast Protoplasts ◽  
Yeast Plasmids ◽  
Binominal Distribution

The frequency of cell fusion during transformation of yeast protoplasts with various yeast plasmids with a chromosome replicon (YRp or YCp) or 2 mu DNA (YEp) was estimated by two methods. In one method, a mixture of protoplasts of two haploid strains with identical mating type and complementary auxotrophic nuclear markers with or without cytoplasmic markers was transformed. When the number of various phenotypic classes of transformants for the nuclear markers was analyzed by equations derived from binominal distribution theory, the frequency of nuclear fusion among the transformants was 42 to 100% in transformations with the YRp or YCp plasmids and 28 to 39% with the YEp plasmids. In another method, a haploid bearing the sir mutation, which allows a diploid (or polyploid) homozygous for the MAT (mating type) locus to sporulate by the expression of the silent mating-type loci HML and HMR, was transformed with the plasmids. Sporulation ability was found in 43 to 95% of the transformants with the YRp or YCp plasmids, and 26 to 31% of the YEp transformants. When cytoplasmic mixing was included with the nuclear fusion, 96 to 100% of the transformants were found to be cell fusants. Based upon these observations, we concluded that transformation of yeast protoplasts is directly associated with cell fusion.

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