Unisexual reproduction in the global human fungal pathogen <i>Cryptococcus neoformans</i>.

ABSTRACT: The human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus species complex (encompassing C. neoformans, C. deneoformans, and the C. gattii species complexes) exhibit diversity in sexual reproduction, including α-a mating, pseudosexual reproduction, as well as unisexual reproduction initiated from a single isolate or between isolates of the same mating type. A central conundrum is that while most Cryptococcus natural populations exhibit significant α mating-type bias, genetic and genomic analyses show recombination occurs in nature. The discovery of unisexual reproduction in C. deneoformans provided insight; however, thus far unisexual reproduction has never been directly observed in the predominant global pathogenic species C. neoformans. Here, we provid

SUBMITTER: Sun S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12157407 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature