Recombination-Independent Recognition of DNA Homology for Repeat-Induced Point Mutation (RIP) Is Modulated by the Underlying Nucleotide Sequence

Recombination and repeat-induced point mutation landscapes reveal trade-offs between the sexual and asexual cycles of Magnaporthe oryzae

The fungal disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae is one of the most devastating diseases that endanger many crops worldwide. Evidence shows that sexual reproduction can be advantageous for fungal diseases as hybridization facilitates host-jumping. However, the pervasive clonal lineages of M. oryzae observed in natural fields contradict this expectation. A better understanding of the roles of recombination and the fungi-specific repeat-induced point mutation (RIP) in shaping its evolutionary trajectory is essential to bridge this knowledge gap. Here we systematically investigate the RIP and recombination landscapes in M. oryzae using a whole genome sequencing data from 252 population samples and 92 cross progenies. Our data reveal that the RIP can robustly capture the population history of M. oryzae, and we provide accurate estimations of the recombination and RIP rates across different M. oryzae clades. Significantly, our results highlight a parent-of-origin bias in both recombination and RIP rates, tightly associating with their sexual potential and variations of effector proteins. This bias suggests a critical trade-off between generating novel allelic combinations in the sexual cycle to facilitate host-jumping and stimulating transposon-associated diversification of effectors in the asexual cycle to facilitate host coevolution. These findings provide unique insights into understanding the evolution of blast fungus.

Engineering tertiary chirality in helical biopolymers

Tertiary chirality describes the handedness of supramolecular assemblies and relies not only on the primary and secondary structures of the building blocks but also on topological driving forces that have been sparsely characterized. Helical biopolymers, especially DNA, have been extensively investigated as they possess intrinsic chirality that determines the optical, mechanical, and physical properties of the ensuing material. Here, we employ the DNA tensegrity triangle as a model system to locate the tipping points in chirality inversion at the tertiary level by X-ray diffraction. We engineer tensegrity triangle crystals with incremental rotational steps between immobile junctions from 3 to 28 base pairs (bp). We construct a mathematical model that accurately predicts and explains the molecular configurations in both this work and previous studies. Our design framework is extendable to other supramolecular assemblies of helical biopolymers and can be used in the design of chiral nanomaterials, optically active molecules, and mesoporous frameworks, all of which are of interest to physical, biological, and chemical nanoscience.

Repeat-Induced Point Mutation and Gene Conversion Coinciding with Heterochromatin Shape the Genome of a Plant-Pathogenic Fungus

Meiosis is associated with genetic changes in the genome-via recombination, gene conversion, and mutations. The occurrence of gene conversion and mutations during meiosis may further be influenced by the chromatin conformation, similar to the effect of the chromatin conformation on the mitotic mutation rate. To date, however, the exact distribution and type of meiosis-associated changes and the role of the chromatin conformation in this context are largely unexplored. Here, we determine recombination, gene conversion, and de novo mutations using whole-genome sequencing of all meiotic products of 23 individual meioses in Zymoseptoria tritici, an important pathogen of wheat. We confirm a high genome-wide recombination rate of 65 centimorgan (cM)/Mb and see higher recombination rates on the accessory compared to core chromosomes. A substantial fraction of 0.16% of all polymorphic markers was affected by gene conversions, showing a weak GC-bias and occurring at higher frequency in regions of constitutive heterochromatin, indicated by the histone modification H3K9me3. The de novo mutation rate associated with meiosis was approximately three orders of magnitude higher than the corresponding mitotic mutation rate. Importantly, repeat-induced point mutation (RIP), a fungal defense mechanism against duplicated sequences, is active in Z. tritici and responsible for the majority of these de novo meiotic mutations. Our results indicate that the genetic changes associated with meiosis are a major source of variability in the genome of an important plant pathogen and shape its evolutionary trajectory. IMPORTANCE The impact of meiosis on the genome composition via gene conversion and mutations is mostly poorly understood, in particular, for non-model species. Here, we sequenced all four meiotic products for 23 individual meioses and determined the genetic changes caused by meiosis for the important fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici. We found a high rate of gene conversions and an effect of the chromatin conformation on gene conversion rates. Higher conversion rates were found in regions enriched with the H3K9me3-a mark for constitutive heterochromatin. Most importantly, meiosis was associated with a much higher frequency of de novo mutations than mitosis; 78% of the meiotic mutations were caused by repeat-induced point mutations-a fungal defense mechanism against duplicated sequences. In conclusion, the genetic changes associated with meiosis are therefore a major factor shaping the genome of this fungal pathogen.

C-DNA may facilitate homologous DNA pairing

Recombination-independent homologous pairing represents a prominent yet largely enigmatic feature of chromosome biology. As suggested by studies in the fungus Neurospora crassa, this process may be based on the direct pairing of homologous DNA molecules. Theoretical search for the DNA structures consistent with those genetic results has led to an all-atom model in which the B-DNA conformation of the paired double helices is strongly shifted toward C-DNA. Coincidentally, C-DNA also features a very shallow major groove that could permit initial homologous contacts without atom-atom clashes. The hereby conjectured role of C-DNA in homologous pairing should encourage the efforts to discover its biological functions and may also clarify the mechanism of recombination-independent recognition of DNA homology.

Homologous pairing in short double-stranded DNA-grafted colloidal microspheres

Homologous pairing (HP), i.e., the pairing of similar or identical double-stranded DNA, is an insufficiently understood fundamental biological process. HP is now understood to also occur without protein mediation, but crucial mechanistic details remain poorly established. Unfortunately, systematic studies of sequence dependence are not practical due to the enormous number of nucleotide permutations and multiple possible conformations involved in existing biophysical strategies even when using as few as 150 basepairs. Here, we show that HP can occur in DNA as short as 18 basepairs in a colloidal microparticle-based system. Exemplary systematic studies include resolving opposing reports of the impact of % AT composition, validating the impact of nucleotide order and triplet framework and revealing isotropic bendability to be crucial for HP. These studies are enabled by statistical analysis of crystal size and fraction within coexisting fluid-crystal phases of double-stranded DNA-grafted colloidal microspheres, where crystallization is predicated by HP.

Modulation of C-to-T mutation by recombination-independent pairing of closely positioned DNA repeats

Repeat-induced point mutation is a genetic process that creates cytosine-to-thymine (C-to-T) transitions in duplicated genomic sequences in fungi. Repeat-induced point mutation detects duplications (irrespective of their origin, specific sequence, coding capacity, and genomic positions) by a recombination-independent mechanism that likely matches intact DNA double helices directly, without relying on the annealing of complementary single strands. In the fungus Neurospora crassa, closely positioned repeats can induce mutation of the adjoining nonrepetitive regions. This process is related to heterochromatin assembly and requires the cytosine methyltransferase DIM-2. Using DIM-2-dependent mutation as a readout of homologous pairing, we find that GC-rich repeats produce a much stronger response than AT-rich repeats, independently of their intrinsic propensity to become mutated. We also report that direct repeats trigger much stronger DIM-2-dependent mutation than inverted repeats. These results can be rationalized in the light of a recently proposed model of homologous DNA pairing, in which DNA double helices associate by forming sequence-specific quadruplex-based contacts with a concomitant release of supercoiling. A similar process featuring pairing-induced supercoiling may initiate epigenetic silencing of repetitive DNA in other organisms, including humans.

Repeat-induced point mutation in Neurospora crassa causes the highest known mutation rate and mutational burden of any cellular life

BACKGROUND

Repeat-induced point (RIP) mutation in Neurospora crassa degrades transposable elements by targeting repeats with C→T mutations. Whether RIP affects core genomic sequence in important ways is unknown.

RESULTS

By parent-offspring whole genome sequencing, we estimate a mutation rate (3.38 ×  10-6 per bp per generation) that is two orders of magnitude higher than reported for any non-viral organism, with 93-98% of mutations being RIP-associated. RIP mutations are, however, relatively rare in coding sequence, in part because RIP preferentially attacks GC-poor long duplicates that interact in three dimensional space, while coding sequence duplicates are rare, GC-rich, short, and tend not to interact. Despite this, with over 5 coding sequence mutations per genome per generation, the mutational burden is an order of magnitude higher than the previously highest observed. Unexpectedly, the majority of these coding sequence mutations appear not to be the direct product of RIP being mostly in non-duplicate sequence and predominantly not C→T mutations. Nonetheless, RIP-deficient strains have over an order of magnitude fewer coding sequence mutations outside of duplicated domains than RIP-proficient strains.

CONCLUSIONS

Neurospora crassa has the highest mutation rate and mutational burden of any non-viral life. While the high rate is largely due to the action of RIP, the mutational burden appears to be RIP-associated but not directly caused by RIP.

Colletotrichum: species complexes, lifestyle, and peculiarities of some sources of genetic variability

The genus Colletotrichum comprises species with different lifestyles but is mainly known for phytopathogenic species that infect crops of agronomic relevance causing considerable losses. The fungi of the genus Colletotrichum are distributed in species complexes and within each complex some species have particularities regarding their lifestyle. The most commonly found and described lifestyles in Colletotrichum are endophytic and hemibiotrophic phytopathogenic. Several of these phytopathogenic species show wide genetic variability, which makes long-term maintenance of resistance in plants difficult. Different mechanisms may play an important role in the emergence of genetic variants but are not yet fully understood in this genus. These mechanisms include heterokaryosis, a parasexual cycle, sexual cycle, transposable element activity, and repeat-induced point mutations. This review provides an overview of the genus Colletotrichum, the species complexes described so far and the most common lifestyles in the genus, with a special emphasis on the mechanisms that may be responsible, at least in part, for the emergence of new genotypes under field conditions.

Direct Homologous dsDNA-dsDNA Pairing: How, Where, and Why?

The ability of homologous chromosomes (or selected chromosomal loci) to pair specifically in the apparent absence of DNA breakage and recombination represents a prominent feature of eukaryotic biology. The mechanism of homology recognition at the basis of such recombination-independent pairing has remained elusive. A number of studies have supported the idea that sequence homology can be sensed between intact DNA double helices in vivo. In particular, recent analyses of the two silencing phenomena in fungi, known as "repeat-induced point mutation" (RIP) and "meiotic silencing by unpaired DNA" (MSUD), have provided genetic evidence for the existence of the direct homologous dsDNA-dsDNA pairing. Both RIP and MSUD likely rely on the same search strategy, by which dsDNA segments are matched as arrays of interspersed base-pair triplets. This process is general and very efficient, yet it proceeds normally without the RecA/Rad51/Dmc1 proteins. Further studies of RIP and MSUD may yield surprising insights into the function of DNA in the cell.

When acting as a reproductive barrier for sympatric speciation, hybrid sterility can only be primary

Animal gametes unite to form a zygote that develops into an adult with gonads that, in turn, produce gametes. Interruption of this germinal cycle by prezygotic or postzygotic reproductive barriers can result in two cycles, each with the potential to evolve into a new species. When the speciation process is complete, members of each species are fully reproductively isolated from those of the other. During speciation a primary barrier may be supported and eventually superceded by a later-appearing secondary barrier. For those holding certain cases of prezygotic isolation to be primary (e.g. elephant cannot copulate with mouse), the onus is to show that they had not been preceded over evolutionary time by periods of postzygotic hybrid inviability (genically determined) or sterility (genically or chromosomally determined). Likewise, the onus is upon those holding cases of hybrid inviability to be primary (e.g. Dobzhansky–Muller epistatic incompatibilities) to show that they had not been preceded by periods, however brief, of hybrid sterility. The latter, when acting as a sympatric barrier causing reproductive isolation, can only be primary. In many cases, hybrid sterility may result from incompatibilities between parental chromosomes that attempt to pair during meiosis in the gonad of their offspring (Winge-Crowther-Bateson incompatibilities). While such incompatibilities have long been observed on a microscopic scale, there is growing evidence for a role of dispersed finer DNA sequence differences (i.e. in base k-mers).

Success of alignment-free oligonucleotide (k-mer) analysis confirms relative importance of genomes not genes in speciation and phylogeny

The utility of DNA sequence substrings (k-mers) in alignment-free phylogenetic classification, including that of bacteria and viruses, is increasingly recognized. However, its biological basis eludes many 21st century practitioners. A path from the 19th century recognition of the informational basis of heredity to the modern era can be discerned. Crick’s DNA ‘unpairing postulate’ predicted that recombinational pairing of homologous DNAs during meiosis would be mediated by short k-mers in the loops of stem-loop structures extruded from classical duplex helices. The complementary ‘kissing’ duplex loops – like tRNA anticodon–codon k-mer duplexes – would seed a more extensive pairing that would then extend until limited by lack of homology or other factors. Indeed, this became the principle behind alignment-based methods that assessed similarity by degree of DNA–DNA reassociation in vitro. These are now seen as less sensitive than alignment-free methods that are closely consistent, both theoretically and mechanistically, with chromosomal anti-recombination models for the initiation of divergence into new species. The analytical power of k-mer differences supports the theses that evolutionary advance sometimes serves the needs of nucleic acids (genomes) rather than proteins (genes), and that such differences can play a role in early speciation events.

Partition of Repeat-Induced Point Mutations Reveals Structural Aspects of Homologous DNA-DNA Pairing

In some fungi, a premeiotic process known as repeat-induced point mutation (RIP) can accurately identify and mutate nearly all gene-sized DNA repeats present in the haploid germline nuclei. Studies in Neurospora crassa have suggested that RIP detects sequence homology directly between intact DNA double helices, without strand separation and without the participation of RecA-like proteins. Those studies used the aggregated number of RIP mutations as a simple quantitative measure of RIP activity. Additional structural information about homologous DNA-DNA pairing during RIP can be extracted by analyzing spatial distributions of RIP mutations converted into profiles of partitioned RIP propensity (PRP). Further analysis shows that PRP is strongly affected by the topological configuration and the relative positioning of the participating DNA segments. Most notably, pairs of closely positioned repeats produce very distinct PRP profiles depending on whether these repeats are present in the direct or the inverted orientation. Such an effect can be attributed to a topology-dependent redistribution of the supercoiling stress created by the predicted limited untwisting of the DNA segments during pairing. This and other results raise a possibility that such pairing-induced fluctuations in DNA supercoiling can modulate the overall structure and properties of repetitive DNA. Such effects can be particularly strong in the context of long tandem-repeat arrays that are typically present in the pericentromeric and centromeric regions of chromosomes in many species of plants, fungi, and animals, including humans.

Cross-Contamination Explains "Inter and Intraspecific Horizontal Genetic Transfers" between Asexual Bdelloid Rotifers

A few metazoan lineages are thought to have persisted for millions of years without sexual reproduction. If so, they would offer important clues to the evolutionary paradox of sex itself [1, 2]. Most "ancient asexuals" are subject to ongoing doubt because extant populations continue to invest in males [3-9]. However, males are famously unknown in bdelloid rotifers, a class of microscopic invertebrates comprising hundreds of species [10-12]. Bdelloid genomes have acquired an unusually high proportion of genes from non-metazoans via horizontal transfer [13-17]. This well-substantiated finding has invited speculation [13] that homologous horizontal transfer between bdelloid individuals also may occur, perhaps even "replacing" sex [14]. In 2016, Current Biology published an article claiming to supply evidence for this idea. Debortoli et al. [18] sampled rotifers from natural populations and sequenced one mitochondrial and four nuclear loci. Species assignments were incongruent among loci for several samples, which was interpreted as evidence of "interspecific horizontal genetic transfers." Here, we use sequencing chromatograms supplied by the authors to demonstrate that samples treated as individuals actually contained two or more highly divergent mitochondrial and ribosomal sequences, revealing cross-contamination with DNA from multiple animals of different species. Other chromatograms indicate contamination with DNA from conspecific animals, explaining genetic and genomic evidence for "intraspecific horizontal exchanges" reported in the same study. Given the clear evidence of contamination, the data and findings of Debortoli et al. [18] provide no reliable support for their conclusions that DNA is transferred horizontally between or within bdelloid species.

Repeat-Induced Point Mutation and Other Genome Defense Mechanisms in Fungi

Transposable elements have colonized the genomes of nearly all organisms, including fungi. Although transposable elements may sometimes provide beneficial functions to their hosts their overall impact is considered deleterious. As a result, the activity of transposable elements needs to be counterbalanced by the host genome defenses. In fungi, the primary genome defense mechanisms include repeat-induced point mutation (RIP) and methylation induced premeiotically, meiotic silencing by unpaired DNA, sex-induced silencing, cosuppression (also known as somatic quelling), and cotranscriptional RNA surveillance. Recent studies of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa have shown that the process of repeat recognition for RIP apparently involves interactions between coaligned double-stranded segments of chromosomal DNA. These studies have also shown that RIP can be mediated by the conserved pathway that establishes transcriptional (heterochromatic) silencing of repetitive DNA. In light of these new findings, RIP emerges as a specialized case of the general phenomenon of heterochromatic silencing of repetitive DNA.

A Matter of Scale and Dimensions: Chromatin of Chromosome Landmarks in the Fungi

Chromatin and chromosomes of fungi are highly diverse and dynamic, even within species. Much of what we know about histone modification enzymes, RNA interference, DNA methylation, and cell cycle control was first addressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Aspergillus nidulans, and Neurospora crassa. Here, we examine the three landmark regions that are required for maintenance of stable chromosomes and their faithful inheritance, namely, origins of DNA replication, telomeres and centromeres. We summarize the state of recent chromatin research that explains what is required for normal function of these specialized chromosomal regions in different fungi, with an emphasis on the silencing mechanism associated with subtelomeric regions, initiated by sirtuin histone deacetylases and histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27) methyltransferases. We explore mechanisms for the appearance of "accessory" or "conditionally dispensable" chromosomes and contrast what has been learned from studies on genome-wide chromosome conformation capture in S. cerevisiae, S. pombe, N. crassa, and Trichoderma reesei. While most of the current knowledge is based on work in a handful of genetically and biochemically tractable model organisms, we suggest where major knowledge gaps remain to be closed. Fungi will continue to serve as facile organisms to uncover the basic processes of life because they make excellent model organisms for genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, and evolutionary biology.

DNA sequence homology induces cytosine-to-thymine mutation by a heterochromatin-related pathway in Neurospora

Eukaryotic genomes contain substantial amounts of repetitive DNA organized in the form of constitutive heterochromatin and associated with repressive epigenetic modifications, such as H3K9me3 and C5-cytosine methylation (5mC). In the fungus Neurospora crassa, H3K9me3 and 5mC are catalyzed, respectively, by a conserved SUV39 histone methyltransferase DIM-5 and a DNMT1-like cytosine methyltransferase DIM-2. Here we show that DIM-2 can also mediate Repeat-Induced Point mutation (RIP) of repetitive DNA in N. crassa. We further show that DIM-2-dependent RIP requires DIM-5, HP1, and other known heterochromatin factors, implying the role of a repeat-induced heterochromatin-related process. Our previous findings suggest that the mechanism of repeat recognition for RIP involves direct interactions between homologous double-stranded (ds) DNA segments. We thus now propose that, in somatic cells, homologous dsDNA/dsDNA interactions between a small number of repeat copies can nucleate a transient heterochromatic state, which, on longer repeat arrays, may lead to the formation of constitutive heterochromatin.

Centrochromatin of Fungi

The centromere is an essential chromosomal locus that dictates the nucleation point for assembly of the kinetochore and subsequent attachment of spindle microtubules during chromosome segregation. Research over the last decades demonstrated that centromeres are defined by a combination of genetic and epigenetic factors. Recent work showed that centromeres are quite diverse and flexible and that many types of centromere sequences and centromeric chromatin ("centrochromatin") have evolved. The kingdom of the fungi serves as an outstanding example of centromere plasticity, including organisms with centromeres as diverse as 0.15-300 kb in length, and with different types of chromatin states for most species examined thus far. Some of the species in the less familiar taxa provide excellent opportunities to help us better understand centromere biology in all eukaryotes, which may improve treatment options against fungal infection, and biotechnologies based on fungi. This review summarizes the current knowledge of fungal centromeres and centrochromatin, including an outlook for future research.

Sixteen Years of Meiotic Silencing by Unpaired DNA

The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa possesses a process called meiotic silencing by unpaired DNA (MSUD). MSUD has a remarkable ability to scan homologous chromosomes for unpaired DNA during meiosis. After unpaired DNA is identified, MSUD silences all RNA from the unpaired DNA along with any RNA transcribed from homologous sequences at other locations in the genome, regardless of their pairing state. The mechanism by which unpaired DNA is detected is unknown. Unpaired DNA segments can be as short as 1.3kb, if not shorter, and DNA sequences with only a small level of polymorphism (6%) can be considered unpaired by MSUD. MSUD research has identified nine proteins required for full efficiency of the process, three of which are homologs of the canonical RNA interference (RNAi) proteins Dicer, Argonaute, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Most MSUD proteins, including the RNAi homologs, appear to dock outside of the nuclear envelope during early stages of meiosis. Only two have been observed inside the nucleus, a low number given that the identification of unpaired DNA and the triggering of silencing must begin within this location. These two proteins may participate in the unpaired DNA detection process. Recent evidence indicates that the search for unpaired DNA is spatially constrained, possibly because of restrictions on the arrangement of chromatin loops during or after homolog pairing. This review attempts to provide a complete analysis of past, present, and future directions of MSUD research, starting with its discovery during a search for a conserved regulator of fungal development and ending with some benefits the process may provide to MSUD capable organisms.

Recombination-independent recognition of DNA homology for repeat-induced point mutation

Numerous cytogenetic observations have shown that homologous chromosomes (or individual chromosomal loci) can engage in specific pairing interactions in the apparent absence of DNA breakage and recombination, suggesting that canonical recombination-mediated mechanisms may not be the only option for sensing DNA/DNA homology. One proposed mechanism for such recombination-independent homology recognition involves direct contacts between intact double-stranded DNA molecules. The strongest in vivo evidence for the existence of such a mechanism is provided by the phenomena of homology-directed DNA modifications in fungi, known as repeat-induced point mutation (RIP, discovered in Neurospora crassa) and methylation-induced premeiotically (MIP, discovered in Ascobolus immersus). In principle, Neurospora RIP can detect the presence of gene-sized DNA duplications irrespectively of their origin, underlying nucleotide sequence, coding capacity or relative, as well as absolute positions in the genome. Once detected, both sequence copies are altered by numerous cytosine-to-thymine (C-to-T) mutations that extend specifically over the duplicated region. We have recently shown that Neurospora RIP does not require MEI-3, the only RecA/Rad51 protein in this organism, consistent with a recombination-independent mechanism. Using an ultra-sensitive assay for RIP mutation, we have defined additional features of this process. We have shown that RIP can detect short islands of homology of only three base-pairs as long as many such islands are arrayed with a periodicity of 11 or 12 base-pairs along a pair of DNA molecules. While the presence of perfect homology is advantageous, it is not required: chromosomal segments with overall sequence identity of only 35-36 % can still be recognized by RIP. Importantly, in order for this process to work efficiently, participating DNA molecules must be able to co-align along their lengths. Based on these findings, we have proposed a model, in which sequence homology is detected by direct interactions between slightly-extended double-stranded DNAs. As a next step, it will be important to determine if the uncovered principles also apply to other processes that involve recombination-independent interactions between homologous chromosomal loci in vivo as well as to protein-free DNA/DNA interactions that were recently observed under biologically relevant conditions in vitro.