Diverse mating phenotypes impact the spread of wtf meiotic drivers in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Meiotic drivers are genetic elements that break Mendel's law of segregation to be transmitted into more than half of the offspring produced by a heterozygote. The success of a driver relies on outcrossing (mating between individuals from distinct lineages) because drivers gain their advantage in heterozygotes. It is, therefore, curious that Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a species reported to rarely outcross, harbors many meiotic drivers. To address this paradox, we measured mating phenotypes in S. pombe natural isolates. We found that the propensity for cells from distinct clonal lineages to mate varies between natural isolates and can be affected both by cell density and by the available sexual partners. Additionally, we found that the observed levels of preferential mating between cells from the same clonal lineage can slow, but not prevent, the spread of a wtf meiotic driver in the absence of additional fitness costs linked to the driver. These analyses reveal parameters critical to understanding the evolution of S. pombe and help explain the success of meiotic drivers in this species.

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Atypical meiosis can be adaptive in outcrossed S. pombe due to wtf meiotic drivers

10.1101/2020.04.28.066035 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

María Angélica Bravo Núñez ◽

Ibrahim M. Sabbarini ◽

Lauren E. Eide ◽

Robert L. Unckless ◽

Sarah E. Zanders

Keyword(s):

Schizosaccharomyces Pombe ◽

Fitness Landscape ◽

Fitness Cost ◽

Fitness Costs ◽

Diploid Gametes ◽

Selection Of

AbstractKiller meiotic drivers are genetic parasites that destroy ‘sibling’ gametes lacking the driver allele. The fitness costs of drive can lead to selection of unlinked suppressors. This suppression could involve evolutionary tradeoffs that compromise gametogenesis and contribute to infertility. Schizosaccharomyces pombe, an organism containing numerous gamete-killing wtf drivers, offers a tractable system to test this hypothesis. Here, we demonstrate that in scenarios analogous to outcrossing, wtf drivers generate a fitness landscape in which atypical gametes, such as aneuploids and diploids, are advantageous. In this context, wtf drivers can decrease the fitness cost of mutations that disrupt meiotic fidelity and, in some circumstances, can even make such mutations beneficial. Moreover, we find that S. pombe isolates vary greatly in their ability to make haploid gametes, with some isolates generating more than 25% aneuploid or diploid gametes. This work empirically demonstrates the potential for meiotic drivers to shape the evolution of gametogenesis.

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High cell density cultures of schizosaccharomyces pombe in a cell-recycle reactor

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology ◽

10.1007/bf02922032 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 285-295 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

JosÉ Humberto De Queiroz ◽

Jean-Louis Uribelarrea ◽

Alain Pareilleux

Keyword(s):

Schizosaccharomyces Pombe ◽

Cell Density ◽

High Cell Density ◽

High Cell ◽

Cell Recycle ◽

A Cell ◽

Recycle Reactor ◽

High Cell Density Cultures

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Atypical meiosis can be adaptive in outcrossed Schizosaccharomyces pombe due to wtf meiotic drivers

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.57936 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

María Angélica Bravo Núñez ◽

Ibrahim M Sabbarini ◽

Lauren E Eide ◽

Robert L Unckless ◽

Sarah E Zanders

Keyword(s):

Schizosaccharomyces Pombe ◽

Fitness Landscape ◽

Fitness Costs ◽

Spore Killing ◽

Selection Of

Killer meiotic drivers are genetic parasites that destroy ‘sibling’ gametes lacking the driver allele. The fitness costs of drive can lead to selection of unlinked suppressors. This suppression could involve evolutionary tradeoffs that compromise gametogenesis and contribute to infertility. Schizosaccharomyces pombe, an organism containing numerous gamete (spore)-killing wtf drivers, offers a tractable system to test this hypothesis. Here, we demonstrate that in scenarios analogous to outcrossing, wtf drivers generate a fitness landscape in which atypical spores, such as aneuploids and diploids, are advantageous. In this context, wtf drivers can decrease the fitness costs of mutations that disrupt meiotic fidelity and, in some circumstances, can even make such mutations beneficial. Moreover, we find that S. pombe isolates vary greatly in their ability to make haploid spores, with some isolates generating up to 46% aneuploid or diploid spores. This work empirically demonstrates the potential for meiotic drivers to shape the evolution of gametogenesis.

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Symbiont location, host fitness, and possible coadaptation in a symbiosis between social amoebae and bacteria

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.42660 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Longfei Shu ◽

Debra A Brock ◽

Katherine S Geist ◽

Jacob W Miller ◽

David C Queller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽

Host Responses ◽

Bacterial Symbionts ◽

Disease Dynamics ◽

Fitness Costs ◽

Social Amoeba ◽

Host Fitness ◽

The Social ◽

Natural Isolates ◽

Social Amoebae

Recent symbioses, particularly facultative ones, are well suited for unravelling the evolutionary give and take between partners. Here we look at variation in natural isolates of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum and their relationships with bacterial symbionts, Burkholderia hayleyella and Burkholderia agricolaris. Only about a third of field-collected amoebae carry a symbiont. We cured and cross-infected amoebae hosts with different symbiont association histories and then compared host responses to each symbiont type. Before curing, field-collected clones did not vary significantly in overall fitness, but infected hosts produced morphologically different multicellular structures. After curing and reinfecting, host fitness declined. However, natural B. hayleyella hosts suffered fewer fitness costs when reinfected with B. hayleyella, indicating that they have evolved mechanisms to tolerate their symbiont. Our work suggests that amoebae hosts have evolved mechanisms to tolerate specific acquired symbionts; exploring host-symbiont relationships that vary within species may provide further insights into disease dynamics.

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Complete sequences of Schizosaccharomyces pombe subtelomeres reveal multiple patterns of genome variation

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-020-20595-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yusuke Oizumi ◽

Takuto Kaji ◽

Sanki Tashiro ◽

Yumiko Takeshita ◽

Yuko Date ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Schizosaccharomyces Pombe ◽

Hot Spots ◽

Repetitive Sequences ◽

Laboratory Strain ◽

Model Organisms ◽

Missense Mutations ◽

Sequencing Data ◽

Genome Variation ◽

Natural Isolates ◽

Complete Sequences

AbstractGenome sequences have been determined for many model organisms; however, repetitive regions such as centromeres, telomeres, and subtelomeres have not yet been sequenced completely. Here, we report the complete sequences of subtelomeric homologous (SH) regions of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We overcame technical difficulties to obtain subtelomeric repetitive sequences by constructing strains that possess single SH regions of a standard laboratory strain. In addition, some natural isolates of S. pombe were analyzed using previous sequencing data. Whole sequences of SH regions revealed that each SH region consists of two distinct parts with mosaics of multiple common segments or blocks showing high variation among subtelomeres and strains. Subtelomere regions show relatively high frequency of nucleotide variations among strains compared with the other chromosomal regions. Furthermore, we identified subtelomeric RecQ-type helicase genes, tlh3 and tlh4, which add to the already known tlh1 and tlh2, and found that the tlh1–4 genes show high sequence variation with missense mutations, insertions, and deletions but no severe effects on their RNA expression. Our results indicate that SH sequences are highly polymorphic and hot spots for genome variation. These features of subtelomeres may have contributed to genome diversity and, conversely, various diseases.

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