The mating type locus (MAT) and sexual reproduction of Cryptococcus heveanensis: insights into the evolution of sex and sex-determining chromosomal regions in fungi.

ABSTRACT: Mating in basidiomycetous fungi is often controlled by two unlinked, multiallelic loci encoding homeodomain transcription factors or pheromones/pheromone receptors. In contrast to this tetrapolar organization, Cryptococcus neoformans/Cryptococcus gattii have a bipolar mating system, and a single biallelic locus governs sexual reproduction. The C. neoformans MAT locus is unusually large (>100 kb), contains >20 genes, and enhances virulence. Previous comparative genomic studies provided insights into how this unusual MAT locus might have evolved involving gene acquisitions into two unlinked loci and fusion into one contiguous locus, converting an ancestral tetrapolar system to a bipolar one. Here we tested this model by studying Cryptococcus heveanensis, a sister species to the pathogenic Cr

SUBMITTER: Metin B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2873909 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature