Mating Types in Glaucoma scintillans

SYNOPSIS. Two sexually isolated varieties or syngens of Glaucoma scintillans have been found in Japan. Each of these includes 8 (or 9) mating types, any one of which can conjugate with the other 7 (or 8). Under appropriate conditions, a high percentage of the animals in a mixture of 2 mating types of the same syngen underwent conjugation. Conjugating pairs appeared to be formed only between animals of different mating types. In a few combinations, inter-syngenic conjugation (usually in less than 5% of the animals) was seen. Neither selfing nor autogamy was seen. Clones from conjugants pass thru a long period of immaturity and a period of adolescence before attaining full maturity. Limited observations indicated that inheritance of mating types is synclonal. Nuclear reorganization processes during conjugation are similar to those reported for Tetrahymena pyriformis.     

Mating Type Inheritance in Glaucoma*

SYNOPSIS. Mating was observed in collections of Glaucoma from 2 localities in Illinois. The collections could be divided into 2 syngens on the basis of mating type reactions. Corticotype analysis showed that syngen 1 was intermediate in meridian number between Glaucoma chattoni and Glaucoma scintillans, while syngen 2 had the same range as Glaucoma scintillans (Lee, unpublished). The major features of mating type inheritance in syngen 1 are that exconjugant clones usually have identical mating types and that mating types I and II appear in an approximately 1:1 ratio in successive generations. This is the result expected in genic mating type inheritance if one of the original parents was a homozygote and the other a heterozygote at the mating type locus. No significant immaturity period was found in these strains. Only 2 viable pairs were obtained from syngen 2 crosses, but results from these suggest that mating type inheritance may be epigenetic and a longer immaturity period may characterize this syngen.     

Mating type heterokaryons inPhycomyces blakesleeanus

A simple method is described for construction of mating type heterokaryons inPhycomyces blakesleeanus. The specific morphology of these heterokaryons is used as a phenotypic marker which reveals the presence of nuclei of different mating types in the same mycelium. These heterokaryons can be successfully used in complementation tests involving both nutritional and phototropic markers. Complementation between mutants with abnormal phototropism belonging to seven previously established complementation groups showed that in 54 different mating type heterokaryons the pattern of complementation was the same as that earlier described in heterokaryons involving nuclei of the same mating type. Complementation tests involving riboflavin auxotrophs showed the presence of two complementation groups.     

Mating type and mating strategies in Neurospora

In the heterothallic species Neurospora crassa, strains of opposite mating type, A and a, must interact to give the series of events resulting in fruiting body formation, meiosis, and the generation of dormant ascospores. The mating type of a strain is specified by the DNA sequence it carries in the mating type region; strains that are otherwise isogenic can mate and produce ascospores. The DNA of the A and a regions have completely dissimilar sequences. Probing DNA from strains of each mating type with labelled sequences from the A and the a regions has shown that, unlike in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, only a single copy of a mating type sequence is present in a haploid genome. The failure to switch is explainable by the physical absence of DNA sequences characteristic of the opposite mating type. While the mating type sequences must be of the opposite kind for mating to occur in the sexual cycle, two strains of opposite mating type cannot form a stable heterokaryon during vegetative growth; instead, they fuse abortively to give a heterokaryon incompatibility reaction, which results in death of the cells along the fusion line. The DNA sequences responsible for this reaction are coextensive with those sequences in the A and a regions which are necessary to initiate fruiting body formation. The genus Neurospora also includes homothallic species--ones in which a single haploid nucleus carries all the information necessary to form fruiting bodies, undergo meiosis, and produce new haploid spores. One such species, N. terricola, contains one copy each of the A and the a sequences within each haploid genome.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Multifactorial inheritance in type 1 diabetes

To date, twelve separate chromosome regions have been implicated in the development of human type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. The major disease locus, IDDM1 in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on chromosome 6p21, accounts for about 35% of the observed familial clustering and its contribution to disease susceptibility is likely to involve polymorphic residues of class II molecules in T-cell-mediated autoimmunity. IDDM2 is encoded by a minisatellite locus embedded in the 5 regulatory region of the insulin gene. Familial clustering of disease can be explained by the sharing of alleles of at least 10 loci. IDDM1 and IDDM2 interact epistatically. For a multifactorial disease, such as type 1 diabetes, important information concerning the pathways and mechanisms involved can be gained from examining such interactions between loci, using methods that simultaneously take account of the joint effects of the various underlying genetic components.     

Mating type sequences in asexually reproducing Fusarium species

To assess the potential for mating in several Fusarium species with no known sexual stage, we developed degenerate and semidegenerate oligonucleotide primers to identify conserved mating type (MAT) sequences in these fungi. The putative alpha and high-mobility-group (HMG) box sequences from Fusarium avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. poae, and F. semitectum were compared to similar sequences that were described previously for other members of the genus. The DNA sequences of the regions flanking the amplified MAT regions were obtained by inverse PCR. These data were used to develop diagnostic primers suitable for the clear amplification of conserved mating type sequences from any member of the genus Fusarium. By using these diagnostic primers, we identified mating types of 122 strains belonging to 22 species of Fusarium. The alpha box and the HMG box from the mating type genes are transcribed in F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. poae, and F. semitectum. The novelty of the PCR-based mating type identification system that we developed is that this method can be used on a wide range of Fusarium species, which have proven or expected teleomorphs in different ascomycetous genera, including Calonectria, Gibberella, and Nectria.     

子囊菌交配型位点与交配型基因研究进展

有性生殖是真菌的生殖方式之一,是真菌遗传重组的重要驱动力。交配型(mating-type,MAT)位点控制真菌性别,在有性生殖过程中起决定性作用。不同类型真菌MAT位点的基因组成、排列方式和编码蛋白不尽相同。近年来,MAT位点和MAT基因的功能与调控网络研究进展较快。本文对子囊菌交配型位点的基因组成及分布、MAT基因的功能、MAT位点与有性生殖调控通路的关系等进行了综述。     

我国肺形侧耳栽培菌株交配型分析

为分析我国栽培肺形侧耳的遗传多样性,对肺形侧耳菌株的交配型进行测定,测试的肺形侧耳菌株包括俗称为秀珍菇和凤尾菇的菌株。结果显示,我国栽培的秀珍菇与凤尾菇菌株间可以发生性亲和,属于同一生物学物种,但它们之间的交配型特异性低,36个菌株中只含4种A交配型和3种B交配型,暗示我国栽培的肺形侧耳种质资源基因匮乏。     

Mating type loci inFusarium: structure and function

Sex in fungi is regulated by highly dissimilar mating type loci named idiomorphs. The genus Fusarium harbours both sexual as well as esexual species and each appears to contain one or the other idiomorph. The structure of these loci is highly conserved, suggesting a cryptic sexual cycle in these socalled asexual species. Alternatively, idiomorphs could regulate additional hitherto unrecognized biological processes. Such processes could be elucidated by expression profiling using mutants disrupted in their mating type loci.     

Mating type and the differentiated state in Physarum polycephalum.

In the acellular slime mold, Physarum polycephalum, the differentiation of amoebae into plasmodia is controlled by a mating type locus, mt. Amoebae carrying heterothallic alleles usually do not differentiate within clones; plasmodia form when two amoebae carrying different alleles fuse and undergo karyogamy. In this paper, we show that amoebae heterozygous for heterothallic alleles can be isolated and maintained as amoebae; the amoebae form plasmodia in clones without a change in ploidy. Plasmodia were also found to be formed, infrequently, by heterothallic amoebae of a single mating type. The plasmodia are healthy and are also formed without a change in ploidy. Thus, the presence of two different heterothallic mating type genes in a single nucleus is compatible with the amoebal state and one heterothallic mating type gene is compatible with the plasmodial state, once established.     

Mating type transformation by transfer of macronuclear chromatin in Paramecium tetraurelia

Macronuclear chromatin from vegetative cells of one mating type (O, or E) in Paramecium tetraurelia was transferred by micropipetting into the macronucleus of vegetative cells of the opposite mating type (E, or O). A few percent (<5%) of the recipient cells gave rise to, by asexual propagation, progenies amongst which some were found to have transformed their mating type in accordance with the donor chromatin. This demonstrates the transformation of mating type during asexual propagation of the cells. In the case of E chromatin transfer to O recipients, many asexual progenies of the recipients transformed from O to E mating type nevertheless remained O after one sexual cycle. Such results indicate two distinctive macronuclear activities in mating type determination: one determining mating type of vegetative cells and the other influencing the differentiation of the developing post-zygotic macronucleus for mating type. The results are interpreted by the hypothesis that the quantity of E macronuclear chromatin required for differentiation of the developing post-zygotic macronucleus from mating type is larger than required for mating type determination in vegetative cells.     

Mating type regulates the radiation-associated stimulation of reciprocal translocation events in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Both ultraviolet (UV) and ionizing radiation were observed to stimulate mitotic, ectopic recombination between his3 recombinational substrates, generating reciprocal translocations in Saccharomyces cervisiae (yeast). The stimulation was greatest in diploid strains competent for sporulation and depends upon both the ploidy of the strain and heterozygosity at the MAT locus. The difference in levels of stimulation between MATa/MATα diploid and MATα haploid strains increases when cells are exposed to higher levels of UV radiation (sevenfold at 150 J/m²), whereas when cells are exposed to higher levels of ionizing radiation (23.4 krad), only a twofold difference is observed. When the MATα gene was introduced by DNA transformation into a MATa/matα::LEU2 ⁺ diploid, the levels of radiation-induced ectopic recombination approach those obtained in a strain that is heterozygous at MAT. Conversely, when the MATA gene was introduced by DNA transformation into a MATα haploid, no enhanced stimulation of ectopic recombination was observed when cells were irradiated with ionizing radiation but a threefold enhancement was observed when cells were irradiated with UV The increase in radiation-stimulated ectopic recombination resulting from heterozygosity at MAT correlated with greater spontaneous ectopic recombination and higher levels of viability after irradiation. We suggest that MAT functions that have been previously shown to control the level of mitotic, allelic recombination (homolog recombination) also control the level of mitotic, radiation-stimulated ectopic recombination between short dispersed repetitive sequences on non-homologous chromosomes.     

Mating type and the genetic basis of self-fertility in the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans

Sexual reproduction occurs in two fundamentally different ways: by outcrossing, in which two distinct partners contribute nuclei, or by self-fertilization (selfing), in which both nuclei are derived from the same individual. Selfing is common in flowering plants, fungi, and some animal taxa. We investigated the genetic basis of selfing in the homothallic fungus Aspergillus nidulans. We demonstrate that alpha and high-mobility group domain mating-type (MAT) genes, found in outcrossing species, are both present in the genome of A. nidulans and that their expression is required for normal sexual development and ascospore production. Balanced overexpression of MAT genes suppressed vegetative growth and stimulated sexual differentiation under conditions unfavorable for sex. Sexual reproduction was correlated with significantly increased expression of MAT genes and key genes of a pheromone-response MAP-kinase signaling pathway involved in heterothallic outcrossing. Mutation of a component MAP-kinase mpkB gene resulted in sterility. These results indicate that selfing in A. nidulans involves activation of the same mating pathways characteristic of sex in outcrossing species, i.e., self-fertilization does not bypass requirements for outcrossing sex but instead requires activation of these pathways within a single individual. However, unlike heterothallic species, aspects of pheromone signaling appeared to be independent of MAT control.     

Mating type gene analysis in apparently asexual Cercospora species is suggestive of cryptic sex

The genus Cercospora consists of numerous important, apparently asexual plant pathogens. We designed degenerate primers from homologous sequences in related species to amplify part of the C. apii, C. apiicola, C. beticola, C. zeae-maydis and C. zeina mating type genes. Chromosome walking was used to determine the full length mating type genes of these species. Primers were developed to amplify and sequence homologous portions of the mating type genes of additional species. Phylogenetic analyses of these sequences revealed little variation among members of the C. apii complex, whereas C. zeae-maydis and C. zeina were found to be dissimilar. The presence of both mating types in approximately even proportions in C. beticola, C. zeae-maydis and C. zeina populations, in contrast to single mating types in C. apii (MAT1) and C. apiicola (MAT2), suggests that a sexual cycle may be active in some of these species.     

Mating success of wild type and sepia mutants Drosophila melanogaster in different choice.

Mating behaviour of red-eyed (wt) and brown-eyed (sepia) Drosophila melanogaster was studied under light conditions. Mating success was directly observed in mating vials and techniques usually applied in the studies of sexual selection ("female choice" and "multiple choice"). The comparison of sexual activity of mutant and wild types clearly indicates that they are not equally successful in matings. Sepia eye colour mutation decreases sexual activity of Drosophila melanogaster males, influences the preference ability of females and decreases the number of progeny from homogamic mating of the se x se type, as well as from heterogamic copulations in which sepia females take part. Non-random mating of wild type males and sepia females (in "multiple-choice" situation), with genetically and phenotypically different individuals, could be another mechanism for conservation of genetic polymorphism in natural populations.     

Mating types in the ciliate Dileptus anser. Genetical instability in the mating type system

In F1 and F2 from a cross between two clones of Dileptus anser isolated from natural sources (MT 1 x x MT III; MT = mating type), along with "normal" clones, many clones were observed demonstrating abnormal phenotype with respect to the MT-character. Irregular features of the latter were as follows: a) a delay in maturation; b) temporary reversion to immature or adolescent state, which means instability of maturity state; c) expression of MT I and MT III, rather than MT II as in properly matured clones; d) changes in MT (i.e., MT instability); e) appearance of totally unexpected MTs in terms of the scheme of genetic control of MTs in D. anser previously suggested by Afon'kin and Yudin (1987)--e.g., of all three MTs in F1 from the initial (analysing!) cross. Amazingly, these abnormal D. anser clones closely resembled some selfer-clones of Tetrahymena pigmentosa, previously reported as an example of genetic instability in the ciliate MT system (Simon, 1980; Simon, Orias, 1987).