Function of the male-gamete-specific fusion protein HAP2 in a seven-sexed ciliate.

ABSTRACT: HAP2, a male-gamete-specific protein conserved across vast evolutionary distances, has garnered considerable attention as a potential membrane fusogen required for fertilization in taxa ranging from protozoa and green algae to flowering plants and invertebrate animals [1-6]. However, its presence in Tetrahymena thermophila, a ciliated protozoan with seven sexes or mating types that bypasses the production of male gametes, raises interesting questions regarding the evolutionary origins of gamete-specific functions in sexually dimorphic species. Here we show that HAP2 is expressed in all seven mating types of T. thermophila and that fertility is only blocked when the gene is deleted from both cells of a mating pair. HAP2 deletion strains of complementary mating types can recognize one anothe

SUBMITTER: Cole ES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4313389 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature