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。     

桦纤孔菌有性生殖相关特征及交配型位点分析

对桦纤孔菌菌株MDJCBS88的显微形态、菌丝及担孢子核相进行了观察。采用棉籽壳培养基对担孢子萌发形成的菌株进行栽培试验,筛选出不形成子实体或子实体发育不完整的菌株,将这些菌株在平板上进行了亲和试验,分析桦纤孔菌的有性生殖方式;并基于基因组序列进行交配型基因克隆验证,分析桦纤孔菌的交配型位点结构。显微观察发现,桦纤孔菌菌丝没有锁状联合结构,菌丝细胞无核到多核;子实层担孢子可含0-4个不等的细胞核,不同时期弹射的担孢子含有的细胞核数量不同。桦纤孔菌担孢子萌发率极低,能萌发的担孢子多为早期弹射的担孢子;培养基也影响担孢子的萌发率,与PDA培养基和CYM培养基相比,桦木屑培养基最适合桦纤孔菌担孢子萌发,萌发率为4.55%。从担孢子萌发的96个菌株中获得了2个不结实菌株和9个结实不产孢菌株,占11.5%,这些菌株间亲和试验出现不同的表现特征,包括形成产孢子实体,产生菌丝纽结,相互融合和相互拮抗等现象,认为桦纤孔菌的有性生殖以次级同宗结合为主,并受交配型基因控制。交配型位点克隆测序后分析发现,桦纤孔菌交配型A位点共14 034 bp,含有一个MIP基因和两组HD1和HD2基因;交配型B位点包含3个疑似信息素受体基因和1个信息素前体编码基因。     

工业微生物遗传和环境扰动的调控和适应进化

开发工业微生物,使其利用可再生的原料生产生物燃料、大宗化学品、食品添加剂和营养品、药物以及工业酶等,是发展生物产业的基础。工业微生物高产和胁迫抗性等鲁棒性状受复杂遗传调控网络控制,其改造需要从全基因组尺度进行系统的全局的多位点的扰动,以达到快速积累多样性基因型突变并产生所期望的表型。文中对工业微生物鲁棒性状的遗传调控与胁迫响应机制、基因组全局扰动与多位点快速进化以及细胞水平氧还平衡的全局扰动进行了简要综述,未来需要继续借助系统生物学和合成生物学手段,进一步加强对工业环境下工业微生物鲁棒性状调控机理的解析与建模预测以及系统的工程改造。     

块菌属分子系统学及菌根共生机制研究进展

块菌属Tuber是一类珍贵的地下生外生菌根食药用真菌,具有重要的经济和生态价值。分子生物学技术的快速发展尤其是高通量测序技术在块菌属研究领域的应用,极大地推动了块菌属分类、系统学、生态、生化、菌根共生机制及人工种植等研究。本文重点从块菌的分子系统学、群体遗传学及菌根共生机制3个方面对近5年的研究成果进行综述,并对其研究和应用前景进行了展望。     

志贺菌基因组进化研究进展

志贺菌属(Shigella)是引起全球范围内细菌性痢疾的重要病原菌.近年来,多重耐药型和新血清型志贺菌的不断出现给志贺菌的监测和防控带来了新的挑战.基因组学的快速发展为深入了解志贺菌的进化来源、变异机制及传播规律等提供了极大的帮助,对控制细菌性痢疾的蔓延具有重要的科学意义.本文首先从遗传来源角度探讨志贺菌与大肠杆菌的进化关系及其可能的分子机制,随后对福氏、宋内和1型痢疾志贺菌的基因组进化进展进行了总结,详细描述了它们的时空分布特点以及耐药基因变异在进化中所发挥的作用,以期为志贺菌的研究和防控提供参考.     

有花植物的有性生殖

花是有花植物（被子植物）的有性生殖器官。在雄蕊的花药中产生雄配子体,通常称花粉;在雌蕊子房内的胚珠中发育雌配子体,通常称胚囊。在花粉或花粉管中形成的一对精细胞分别与胚囊中的卵和中央细胞受精,由此产生胚和胚乳。随着胚和胚乳的发育,整个胚珠发育为种子。这是被子植物有性生殖的一般过程。     

有花植物的有性生殖

花是有花植物（被子植物）的有性生殖器官。在雄蕊的花药中产生雄配子体,通常称花粉;在雌蕊子房内的胚珠中发育雌配子体,通常称胚囊。在花粉或花粉管中形成的一对精细胞分别与胚囊中的卵和中央细胞受精,由此产生胚和胚乳。随着胚和胚乳的发育,整个胚珠发育为种子。这是被子植物有性生殖的一般过程。     

调控进化与形态多样性

揭示导致生物体形态和结构多样性产生的原因和机制, 是进化生物学研究的重要内容。进化发育生物学的研究表明, 许多复杂的形态结构及其多样性, 都是通过对古老调控网络的修饰或改造来完成的。也就是说, 生物体形态和结构的多样化并不是像以前认为的是由基因编码区的变化造成的, 而更多的是取决于基因的调控进化。作为控制基因表达的关键组分, 基因调控区的顺式调控元件通过与特定反式作用因子结合, 精细调控基因表达的时、空和量。因此, 调控元件的获得、丢失、修饰或者改变都能引起基因表达模式的变化, 是形态和结构多样性产生的主要原因。本文结合近年来国际上在基因的调控进化方面所取得的进展, 总结了真核生物中基因调控的方式和特点, 阐述了调控进化的基本式样, 揭示了调控进化在生物进化(特别是形态和结构多样化)中的作用。     

大型真菌光受体及其功能研究进展

真菌通过光受体感受光信号,光除了调控大型真菌生理周期、形态变化和代谢产物产生外,还是大多数大型真菌原基分化和子实体生长的必要条件。本文对近年来大型真菌的光反应和光受体研究进行了概述。大型真菌中光受体研究目前仅限于WC-1同源蛋白,WC-1既有对光信号应答的能力,同时作为转录因子,又能激活下游基因的表达,但是不同物种中可能存在不同的靶基因。wc-1基因敲除造成裂褶菌、蛹虫草子实体发育阻断。光受体及其作用机制的研究将为大型真菌子实体发育机制研究奠定基础。     

人类环境病原真菌的毒力和进化

侵袭性病原真菌极大威胁了人类公共健康安全。绝大多数的病原真菌来源于环境,它们与人类宿主并无共进化与共生关系,被称为环境病原真菌。该类病原真菌的致病能力可能衍生于其出色的环境适应策略,且可通过有性生殖依赖/非依赖的方式实现基因组快速进化,加速了自然界中高毒菌株和抗性菌株的产生。本文将主要以环境病原真菌的模式菌——新生隐球菌为例,阐述其复杂环境适应策略与致病力和毒力进化之间的关联,并对人类环境病原真菌的相关理论研究和临床应用提供一点思考。     

The Evolution of Sex: Domains and Explanatory Pluralism

The evolution of sexual reproduction is a striking case of explanatory pluralism, meaning that one needs to refer to more than one explanation in order to adequately account for it. I develop the concept a domain of phenomena in order to analysis this pluralism. Pluralism exists when a phenomenon can be included in more that one homogeneous domain or in a heterogeneous domain. I argue that in some cases domain partitioning can be used to decrease pluralism, but that in the case of sex domains are overlapping and interconnecting, or in other words bear an orthogonal relationship to one another, and hence cannot be partitioned in such a way as to eliminate pluralism.     

Unidirectional mating-type switching confers self-fertility to Thielaviopsis cerberus,the only homothallic species in the genus

Sexual reproduction is ubiquitous in nature, and nowhere is this more so than in the fungi. Heterothallic behaviour is observed when there is a strict requirement of contact between two individuals of opposite mating type for sexual reproduction to occur. In contrast, a homothallic species can complete the entire sexual cycle in isolation, although several genetic mechanisms underpin this self-fertility. These can be inferred by characterising the structure and gene-content of the mating-type locus, which contains genes that are involved in the regulation of sexual reproduction. In this study, the genetic basis of homothallism in Thielaviopsis cerberus was investigated, the only known self-fertile species within this genus. Using genome sequencing and conventional molecular techniques, two versions of the mating-type locus were identified in this species. This is typical of species that have a unidirectional mating-type switching reproductive strategy. The first version was a self-fertile locus that contained four known mating-type genes, while the second was a self-sterile version with a single mating-type gene. The conversion from a self-fertile to a self-sterile locus is likely mediated by a homologous recombination event at two direct repeats present in the self-fertile locus, resulting in the deletion of three mating-type genes and one of the repeats. Both locus versions were present in isolates that were self-fertile, while self-sterility was caused by the presence of only a switched locus. This study provides a clear example of the architectural fluidity in the mating-type loci that is common among even closely related fungal species.     

Evolution of Sex Determination and Sex Chromosomes: A Novel Alternative Paradigm

Sex chromosomes can differ between species as a result of evolutionary turnover, a process that can be driven by evolution of the sex determination pathway. Canonical models of sex chromosome turnover hypothesize that a new master sex determining gene causes an autosome to become a sex chromosome or an XY chromosome pair to switch to a ZW pair (or vice versa). Here, a novel paradigm for the evolution of sex determination and sex chromosomes is presented, in which there is an evolutionary transition in the master sex determiner, but the X chromosome remains unchanged. There are three documented examples of the novel paradigm, and it is hypothesized that a similar process could happen in a ZW sex chromosome system. Three other taxa are also identified where the novel paradigm may have occurred, and how it could be distinguished from canonical trajectories in these and additional taxa is also described.     

Sex and immunity in the yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria

The immune system is of increasing interest to evolutionary biologists. Immunity may trade-off against other fitness components, with recent work suggesting reproduction in particular impinges on immune defence. There may also be sex differences in the immune system. Additionally, while life history traits typically have low heritability, little is known about additive genetic variance of immunity. An insect's major defence against multicellular pathogens is to encapsulate the invader. Phenoloxidase (PO) is a key enzyme in the cascade resulting in the melanized capsule, and is often used to estimate resistance to an immune insult. We examined the effects of copulation, egg laying, sex and age on PO in Scathophaga stercoraria. We also measured the heritability of PO activity. The sexes differed in haemolymph PO activity and PO was significantly affected by age, but not by copulation or egg laying. There was significant heritable variation for haemolymph PO.     

Sex differences in nutrient-dependent reproductive ageing

Evolutionary theories of aging predict that fitness-related traits, including reproductive performance, will senesce because the strength of selection declines with age. Sexual selection theory predicts, however, that male reproductive performance (especially sexual advertisement) will increase with age. In both bodies of theory, diet should mediate age-dependent changes in reproductive performance. In this study, we show that the sexes exhibit dramatic, qualitative differences in age-dependent reproductive performance trajectories and patterns of reproductive ageing in the cricket Teleogryllus commodus. In females, fecundity peaked early in adulthood and then declined. In contrast, male sexual advertisement increased across the natural lifespan and only declined well beyond the maximum field lifespan. These sex differences were robust to deviations from sex-specific dietary requirements. Our results demonstrate that sexual selection can be at least as important as sex-dependent mortality in shaping the signal of reproductive ageing.     

Sex chromosomes and sex determination pathway dynamics in plant and animal models

In this review, we discuss and compare data obtained from animal and plant models, focusing our attention on the mechanisms that affect sex linkage and changes in sex‐determining pathways. Patterns in data across taxa suggest that sex bias and the dynamics that occurs within hybrid zones can play an important role in these processes that enable the spread of some otherwise handicapped genotypes. We discuss the data obtained from several main plant model species in the light of the patterns demonstrated in animal models. In several plant models, we discuss possible differences in the age of their sex‐determining pathways and the age of their current sex chromosomes. We also address an open question: how can an X/A ratio based sex‐determining system evolve from a sex‐determining system based on two genes on the Y chromosome that control two separate sex‐determining pathways (for the control of gynoecium suppression and anther promotion)? Taking inspiration from the well described mechanisms involved in sex determination dynamics in animals, we suggest a hypothetical stepwise scenario of change of the plant sex‐determining system based on two separate sex‐determining pathways (for the control of gynoecium suppression and anther promotion) into the other sex‐determining systems. We suppose that an intermediate step occurs before shift to X/A based sex determination. At that phase, sex determination in plants is still based on an active Y chromosome, although there exists already a connected control of both sex‐determining pathways. We suggest that this connection is enabled by the existence of the genes that control sexual dimorphism in the vegetative state of plant development, and that, in some circumstances, these genes can become sex‐determining genes. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 100 , 737–752.     

Genus-Wide Characterization of Bumblebee Genomes Provides Insights into Their Evolution and Variation in Ecological and Behavioral Traits

Bumblebees are a diverse group of globally important pollinators in natural ecosystems and for agricultural food production. With both eusocial and solitary life-cycle phases, and some social parasite species, they are especially interesting models to understand social evolution, behavior, and ecology. Reports of many species in decline point to pathogen transmission, habitat loss, pesticide usage, and global climate change, as interconnected causes. These threats to bumblebee diversity make our reliance on a handful of well-studied species for agricultural pollination particularly precarious. To broadly sample bumblebee genomic and phenotypic diversity, we de novo sequenced and assembled the genomes of 17 species, representing all 15 subgenera, producing the first genus-wide quantification of genetic and genomic variation potentially underlying key ecological and behavioral traits. The species phylogeny resolves subgenera relationships, whereas incomplete lineage sorting likely drives high levels of gene tree discordance. Five chromosome-level assemblies show a stable 18-chromosome karyotype, with major rearrangements creating 25 chromosomes in social parasites. Differential transposable element activity drives changes in genome sizes, with putative domestications of repetitive sequences influencing gene coding and regulatory potential. Dynamically evolving gene families and signatures of positive selection point to genus-wide variation in processes linked to foraging, diet and metabolism, immunity and detoxification, as well as adaptations for life at high altitudes. Our study reveals how bumblebee genes and genomes have evolved across the Bombus phylogeny and identifies variations potentially linked to key ecological and behavioral traits of these important pollinators.     

青藏高原及周边高山地区的植物繁殖生态学研究进展

青藏高原及周边高山地区孕育了极为丰富的植物多样性资源, 研究该地区植物如何顺利完成繁殖过程有助于我们理解植物对典型高山环境的进化和适应机制。该文综述了青藏高原地区高山植物在资源分配、繁殖方式、花部特征演化等方面的研究进展, 包括全球气候变化对植物繁殖特征的影响, 以及一些新技术和新方法在本研究领域的应用。在高山地区限制性环境中, 随海拔升高, 繁殖分配通常表现出增大的趋势, 其中投入到雄性资源的比例上升, 但具体的资源分配模式还要取决于植株的交配系统、个体大小、生活史特征、遗传特性以及环境中的资源有效性等。面对资源和传粉的双重限制, 植物在不同繁殖方式之间存在权衡, 当传粉者稀少时, 克隆繁殖和自交有利于繁殖保障; 而有性繁殖和异交能够提高种子的质量和后代的遗传多样性, 从而在复杂多变的气候条件下有利于种群的维持。因此, 不同繁殖方式的结合以及泛化的传粉互作网络可能是应对高山限制性环境的最优选择。花部特征的演化主要受到当地传粉者的选择压力, 但是外来传粉者、植食者、盗蜜者以及非生物环境(如温度、雨水和紫外辐射等)对花部性状的影响越来越受到重视。近年来, 青藏高原因其脆弱性和对气候变化的高度敏感性而在全球气候变化研究中备受关注, 以全球变暖和氮沉降增加为显著特征的全球气候变化正在直接或间接地影响着该地区高山植物的繁殖特征。气候变化影响植物和传粉者的物候并引起物种的迁移, 最终将导致植物与传粉者的时空不匹配。植物通过改变花部特征(花展示、花冠结构、花报酬的数量和质量)来响应气候变化, 这可能会改变其传粉者的类型、数量和访花行为, 从而最终影响植物的繁殖成功。3D打印和高通量测序等新技术和新方法的应用有助于促进植物繁殖生态学研究的进一步发展。3D打印的花能够精确控制其形态构造, 可以用于研究精细的花部特征变化对于传粉者行为的影响, 在此基础上与人工饲养的传粉者结合使用, 有助于进一步研究传粉者介导的花部特征演化。随着高通量测序技术的发展, 植物繁殖生态学领域, 尤其是花部特征演化的许多重要问题的潜在机制得以深入研究。该文最后提出了目前研究中需要注意的问题以及值得深入研究的发展方向。     

Origin and Evolution of the Lichenized Ascomycete Order Lichinales: Monophyly and Systematic Relationships Inferred from Ascus, Fruiting Body and SSU rDNA Evolution

Abstract: The Lichinales are a group of lichenized ascomycetes that almost exclusively possess cyanobacteria as their primary photobiont and are hitherto separated from the Lecanorales, the major group of lichenized ascomycetes, by thallus structure, ascoma ontogeny, ascus structure and ascus function. The relationship of the two families Peltulaceae and Lichinaceae, both placed within the Lichinales, with the Heppiaceae, placed within the Lecanorales, was investigated, as well as a possible sister group relationship of the Lichinales to the Lecanorales. Phylogenetic analyses included non-molecular data as well as 18S rDNA sequence data. The monophyly of the Lichinales including the family Heppiaceae and a sister group relationship of Lichinales and Lecanorales, based on the shared presence of lecanoralean asci, are proposed in a morphological hypothesis. Parsimony and distance analyses of 18S rDNA sequence data strongly support the monophyly of the Lichinales, including all three families. Therefore, the presence of rostrate, lecanoralean asci in Peltula and part of the Lichinaceae suggests that this ascus type is an autapomorphy of the monophyletic Lichinales. Furthermore, the occurrence of prototunicate asci in the Heppiaceae and most of the Lichinaceae is autapomorphic and was gained independently by reduction of the rostrate ascus. The 18S rDNA analysis did not reject the non-molecular hypothesis of a sister group relationship of the Lichinales and the Lecanorales as based on ascus characters. The alternative placement of the Lichinales as the sister group of all inoperculate euascomycetes excluding the Sordariomycetes and most of the Leotiales in the gene tree received unsufficient bootstrap support and no support from any non-molecular data and consequently was rejected.