A constitutively active GPCR governs morphogenic transitions in Cryptococcus neoformans.

ABSTRACT: Sex in fungi is driven by peptide pheromones sensed through seven-transmembrane pheromone receptors. In Cryptococcus neoformans, sexual reproduction occurs through an outcrossing/heterothallic a- sexual cycle or an inbreeding/homothallic - unisexual mating process. Pheromone receptors encoded by the mating-type locus (MAT) mediate reciprocal pheromone sensing during opposite-sex mating and contribute to but are not essential for unisexual mating. A pheromone receptor-like gene, CPR2, was discovered that is not encoded by MAT and whose expression is induced during a- mating. cpr2 mutants are fertile but have a fusion defect and produce abnormal hyphal structures, whereas CPR2 overexpression elicits unisexual reproduction. When heterologously expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Cpr2 activ

SUBMITTER: Hsueh YP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2683048 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature