Diploids in the Cryptococcus neoformans serotype A population homozygous for the alpha mating type originate via unisexual mating.

ABSTRACT: The ubiquitous environmental human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans is traditionally considered a haploid fungus with a bipolar mating system. In nature, the alpha mating type is overwhelmingly predominant over a. How genetic diversity is generated and maintained by this heterothallic fungus in a largely unisexual alpha population is unclear. Recently it was discovered that C. neoformans can undergo same-sex mating under laboratory conditions generating both diploid intermediates and haploid recombinant progeny. Same-sex mating (alpha-alpha) also occurs in nature as evidenced by the existence of natural diploid alphaADalpha hybrids that arose by fusion between two alpha cells of different serotypes (A and D). How significantly this novel sexual style contributes to genetic diversity of the

SUBMITTER: Lin X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2629120 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature