Identification of mating type genes in the bipolar basidiomycetous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides: first insight into the MAT locus structure of the Sporidiobolales.

ABSTRACT: Rhodosporidium toruloides is a heterothallic, bipolar, red yeast that belongs to the Sporidiobolales, an order within a major lineage of basidiomycetes, the Pucciniomycotina. In contrast to other basidiomycetes, considerably less is known about the nature of the mating type (MAT) loci that control sexual reproduction in this lineage. Three genes (RHA1, RHA2, and RHA3) encoding precursors of the MAT A1 pheromone (rhodotorucine A) were previously identified and formed the basis for a genome walking approach that led to the identification of additional MAT genes in complementary mating strains of R. toruloides. Two mating type-specific alleles encoding a p21-activated kinase (PAK; Ste20 homolog) were found between the RHA2 and RHA3 genes, and identification in MAT A2 strains of a gene encodin

SUBMITTER: Coelho MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2446649 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature