Evolution of sexes from an ancestral mating-type specification pathway.

ABSTRACT: Male and female sexes have evolved repeatedly in eukaryotes but the origins of dimorphic sexes and their relationship to mating types in unicellular species are not understood. Volvocine algae include isogamous species such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, with two equal-sized mating types, and oogamous multicellular species such as Volvox carteri with sperm-producing males and egg-producing females. Theoretical work predicts genetic linkage of a gamete cell-size regulatory gene(s) to an ancestral mating-type locus as a possible step in the evolution of dimorphic gametes, but this idea has not been tested. Here we show that, contrary to predictions, a single conserved mating locus (MT) gene in volvocine algae-MID, which encodes a RWP-RK domain transcription factor-evolved from its ancestral r

SUBMITTER: Geng S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4086717 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature