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Yadav V, Sun S, Heitman J. On the evolution of variation in sexual reproduction through the prism of eukaryotic microbes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2219120120. [PMID: 36867686 PMCID: PMC10013875 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2219120120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Almost all eukaryotes undergo sexual reproduction to generate diversity and select for fitness in their population pools. Interestingly, the systems by which sex is defined are highly diverse and can even differ between evolutionarily closely related species. While the most commonly known form of sex determination involves males and females in animals, eukaryotic microbes can have as many as thousands of different mating types for the same species. Furthermore, some species have found alternatives to sexual reproduction and prefer to grow clonally and yet undergo infrequent facultative sexual reproduction. These organisms are mainly invertebrates and microbes, but several examples are also present among vertebrates suggesting that alternative modes of sexual reproduction evolved multiple times throughout evolution. In this review, we summarize the sex-determination modes and variants of sexual reproduction found across the eukaryotic tree of life and suggest that eukaryotic microbes provide unique opportunities to study these processes in detail. We propose that understanding variations in modes of sexual reproduction can serve as a foundation to study the evolution of sex and why and how it evolved in the first place.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vikas Yadav
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC27710
| | - Sheng Sun
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC27710
| | - Joseph Heitman
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC27710
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2
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Hartmann FE, Duhamel M, Carpentier F, Hood ME, Foulongne‐Oriol M, Silar P, Malagnac F, Grognet P, Giraud T. Recombination suppression and evolutionary strata around mating-type loci in fungi: documenting patterns and understanding evolutionary and mechanistic causes. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2021; 229:2470-2491. [PMID: 33113229 PMCID: PMC7898863 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Genomic regions determining sexual compatibility often display recombination suppression, as occurs in sex chromosomes, plant self-incompatibility loci and fungal mating-type loci. Regions lacking recombination can extend beyond the genes determining sexes or mating types, by several successive steps of recombination suppression. Here we review the evidence for recombination suppression around mating-type loci in fungi, sometimes encompassing vast regions of the mating-type chromosomes. The suppression of recombination at mating-type loci in fungi has long been recognized and maintains the multiallelic combinations required for correct compatibility determination. We review more recent evidence for expansions of recombination suppression beyond mating-type genes in fungi ('evolutionary strata'), which have been little studied and may be more pervasive than commonly thought. We discuss testable hypotheses for the ultimate (evolutionary) and proximate (mechanistic) causes for such expansions of recombination suppression, including (1) antagonistic selection, (2) association of additional functions to mating-type, such as uniparental mitochondria inheritance, (3) accumulation in the margin of nonrecombining regions of various factors, including deleterious mutations or transposable elements resulting from relaxed selection, or neutral rearrangements resulting from genetic drift. The study of recombination suppression in fungi could thus contribute to our understanding of recombination suppression expansion across a broader range of organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fanny E. Hartmann
- Ecologie Systematique EvolutionBatiment 360Université Paris‐SaclayCNRSAgroParisTechOrsay91400France
| | - Marine Duhamel
- Ecologie Systematique EvolutionBatiment 360Université Paris‐SaclayCNRSAgroParisTechOrsay91400France
- Ruhr‐Universität Bochum, Evolution of Plants and Fungi ‐ Gebäude ND 03/174Universitätsstraße150, 44801 BochumGermany
| | - Fantin Carpentier
- Ecologie Systematique EvolutionBatiment 360Université Paris‐SaclayCNRSAgroParisTechOrsay91400France
| | - Michael E. Hood
- Biology Department, Science CentreAmherst CollegeAmherstMA01002USA
| | | | - Philippe Silar
- Lab Interdisciplinaire Energies DemainUniv Paris DiderotSorbonne Paris CiteParis 13F‐75205France
| | - Fabienne Malagnac
- Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC)Université Paris‐SaclayCEACNRSGif‐sur‐Yvette91198France
| | - Pierre Grognet
- Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC)Université Paris‐SaclayCEACNRSGif‐sur‐Yvette91198France
| | - Tatiana Giraud
- Ecologie Systematique EvolutionBatiment 360Université Paris‐SaclayCNRSAgroParisTechOrsay91400France
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Wallen RM, Richardson K, Furnish M, Mendoza H, Dentinger A, Khanal S, Perlin MH. Hungry for Sex: Differential Roles for Ustilago maydisb Locus Components in Haploid Cells vis à vis Nutritional Availability. J Fungi (Basel) 2021; 7:jof7020135. [PMID: 33673296 PMCID: PMC7918651 DOI: 10.3390/jof7020135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2021] [Revised: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Mating-types allow single-celled eukaryotic organisms to distinguish self from non-self in preparation for sexual reproduction. The components of mating-type loci provide initial self/non-self-recognition through pheromone and receptor interactions that control early cell fusion events. However, they may also provide a second level of scrutiny that requires differences in alleles leading to production of a transcription factor required for successful downstream developmental pathways after initial cell fusion. Interestingly, the protein subunits of these transcription factors have not been thoroughly examined for their roles, if any, in the haploid cells themselves. In Ustilago maydis, the causative agent of galls in maize plants, the b locus, encoding bEast (bE) and bWest (bW), components of the eventual requisite transcription factor, has been extensively studied for its role in formation of the stable dikaryon after mating and subsequent pathogenic program. Little is known, however, about any roles for bE or bW in haploid cells. Since mating in fungi is often induced under conditions of nitrogen starvation, we have explored connections between the b locus and the nitrogen-sensing and response pathways in U. maydis. We previously identified a connection in haploid cells between the b locus and Ump2, the high-affinity transceptor, a protein that both transports ammonium and triggers filamentous growth as a response to nitrogen starvation. Deletion of the entire b locus abrogates the filamentous response to low ammonium, a phenotype that is rescued by overexpression of Ump2. Here we further investigated the individual roles of bE and bW in haploid cells. We show that bE and bW are expressed differentially in haploid cells starved for ammonium. Their respective deletion elicits different effects on transcription of mating and pathogenic-related genes and, importantly, on the degree of pathogenic development in host plants. This is the first demonstration of a role for these mating locus components on haploid development and the first to demonstrate a connection to the ammonium transceptors.
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Hartmann FE, Rodríguez de la Vega RC, Gladieux P, Ma WJ, Hood ME, Giraud T. Higher Gene Flow in Sex-Related Chromosomes than in Autosomes during Fungal Divergence. Mol Biol Evol 2020; 37:668-682. [PMID: 31651949 PMCID: PMC7038665 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msz252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Nonrecombining sex chromosomes are widely found to be more differentiated than autosomes among closely related species, due to smaller effective population size and/or to a disproportionally large-X effect in reproductive isolation. Although fungal mating-type chromosomes can also display large nonrecombining regions, their levels of differentiation compared with autosomes have been little studied. Anther-smut fungi from the Microbotryum genus are castrating pathogens of Caryophyllaceae plants with largely nonrecombining mating-type chromosomes. Using whole genome sequences of 40 fungal strains, we quantified genetic differentiation among strains isolated from the geographically overlapping North American species and subspecies of Silene virginica and S. caroliniana. We inferred that gene flow likely occurred at the early stages of divergence and then completely stopped. We identified large autosomal genomic regions with chromosomal inversions, with higher genetic divergence than the rest of the genomes and highly enriched in selective sweeps, supporting a role of rearrangements in preventing gene flow in genomic regions involved in ecological divergence. Unexpectedly, the nonrecombining mating-type chromosomes showed lower divergence than autosomes due to higher gene flow, which may be promoted by adaptive introgressions of less degenerated mating-type chromosomes. The fact that both mating-type chromosomes are always heterozygous and nonrecombining may explain such patterns that oppose to those found for XY or ZW sex chromosomes. The specific features of mating-type chromosomes may also apply to the UV sex chromosomes determining sexes at the haploid stage in algae and bryophytes and may help test general hypotheses on the evolutionary specificities of sex-related chromosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fanny E Hartmann
- Ecologie Systematique Evolution, Batiment 360, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
| | - Ricardo C Rodríguez de la Vega
- Ecologie Systematique Evolution, Batiment 360, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
| | - Pierre Gladieux
- UMR BGPI, Univ Montpellier, INRA, CIRAD, Montpellier SupAgro, Montpellier, France
| | - Wen-Juan Ma
- Biology Department, Science Centre, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
| | - Michael E Hood
- Biology Department, Science Centre, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
| | - Tatiana Giraud
- Ecologie Systematique Evolution, Batiment 360, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
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Ma WJ, Carpentier F, Giraud T, Hood ME. Differential Gene Expression between Fungal Mating Types Is Associated with Sequence Degeneration. Genome Biol Evol 2020; 12:243-258. [PMID: 32058544 PMCID: PMC7150583 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evaa028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Degenerative mutations in non-recombining regions, such as in sex chromosomes, may lead to differential expression between alleles if mutations occur stochastically in one or the other allele. Reduced allelic expression due to degeneration has indeed been suggested to occur in various sex-chromosome systems. However, whether an association occurs between specific signatures of degeneration and differential expression between alleles has not been extensively tested, and sexual antagonism can also cause differential expression on sex chromosomes. The anther-smut fungus Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae is ideal for testing associations between specific degenerative signatures and differential expression because 1) there are multiple evolutionary strata on the mating-type chromosomes, reflecting successive recombination suppression linked to mating-type loci; 2) separate haploid cultures of opposite mating types help identify differential expression between alleles; and 3) there is no sexual antagonism as a confounding factor accounting for differential expression. We found that differentially expressed genes were enriched in the four oldest evolutionary strata compared with other genomic compartments, and that, within compartments, several signatures of sequence degeneration were greater for differentially expressed than non-differentially expressed genes. Two particular degenerative signatures were significantly associated with lower expression levels within differentially expressed allele pairs: upstream insertion of transposable elements and mutations truncating the protein length. Other degenerative mutations associated with differential expression included nonsynonymous substitutions and altered intron or GC content. The association between differential expression and allele degeneration is relevant for a broad range of taxa where mating compatibility or sex is determined by genes located in large regions where recombination is suppressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen-Juan Ma
- Department of Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
| | - Fantin Carpentier
- Ecologie Systematique et Evolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Orsay, France
| | - Tatiana Giraud
- Ecologie Systematique et Evolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Orsay, France
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Sun S, Coelho MA, Heitman J, Nowrousian M. Convergent evolution of linked mating-type loci in basidiomycete fungi. PLoS Genet 2019; 15:e1008365. [PMID: 31490920 PMCID: PMC6730849 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Accepted: 08/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Sexual development is a key evolutionary innovation of eukaryotes. In many species, mating involves interaction between compatible mating partners that can undergo cell and nuclear fusion and subsequent steps of development including meiosis. Mating compatibility in fungi is governed by the mating type (MAT) loci. In basidiomycetes, the ancestral state is hypothesized to be tetrapolar, with two genetically unlinked MAT loci containing homeodomain transcription factor genes (HD locus) and pheromone and pheromone receptor genes (P/R locus), respectively. Alleles at both loci must differ between mating partners for completion of sexual development. However, there are also basidiomycetes with bipolar mating systems, which can arise through genomic linkage of the HD and P/R loci. In the order Tremellales, bipolarity is found only in the pathogenic Cryptococcus species. Here, we describe the analysis of MAT loci from 24 species of the Trichosporonales, a sister order to the Tremellales. In all of the species analyzed, the MAT loci are fused and a single HD gene is present in each mating type, similar to the organization in the pathogenic Cryptococci. However, the HD and P/R allele combinations in the Trichosporonales are different from those in the pathogenic Cryptococci. This and the existence of tetrapolar species in the Tremellales suggest that fusion of the HD and P/R loci occurred independently in the Trichosporonales and pathogenic Cryptococci, supporting the hypothesis of convergent evolution towards fused MAT regions, similar to previous findings in other fungal groups. Unlike the fused MAT loci in several other basidiomycete lineages though, the gene content and gene order within the fused MAT loci are highly conserved in the Trichosporonales, and there is no apparent suppression of recombination extending from the MAT loci to adjacent chromosomal regions, suggesting different mechanisms for the evolution of physically linked MAT loci in these groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheng Sun
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Marco A. Coelho
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Joseph Heitman
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Minou Nowrousian
- Lehrstuhl für Allgemeine und Molekulare Botanik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany
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Hartmann FE, Rodríguez de la Vega RC, Carpentier F, Gladieux P, Cornille A, Hood ME, Giraud T. Understanding Adaptation, Coevolution, Host Specialization, and Mating System in Castrating Anther-Smut Fungi by Combining Population and Comparative Genomics. ANNUAL REVIEW OF PHYTOPATHOLOGY 2019; 57:431-457. [PMID: 31337277 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-phyto-082718-095947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Anther-smut fungi provide a powerful system to study host-pathogen specialization and coevolution, with hundreds of Microbotryum species specialized on diverse Caryophyllaceae plants, castrating their hosts through manipulation of the hosts' reproductive organs to facilitate disease transmission. Microbotryum fungi have exceptional genomic characteristics, including dimorphic mating-type chromosomes, that make this genus anexcellent model for studying the evolution of mating systems and their influence on population genetics structure and adaptive potential. Important insights into adaptation, coevolution, host specialization, and mating system evolution have been gained using anther-smut fungi, with new insights made possible by the recent advent of genomic approaches. We illustrate with Microbotryum case studies how using a combination of comparative genomics, population genomics, and transcriptomics approaches enables the integration of different evolutionary perspectives across different timescales. We also highlight current challenges and suggest future studies that will contribute to advancing our understanding of the mechanisms underlying adaptive processes in populations of fungal pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fanny E Hartmann
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France;
| | | | - Fantin Carpentier
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France;
| | - Pierre Gladieux
- UMR BGPI, Univ. Montpellier, INRA, CIRAD, Montpellier SupAgro, 34398 Montpellier, France
| | - Amandine Cornille
- Génétique Quantitative et Evolution-Le Moulon, INRA; Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Michael E Hood
- Biology Department, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002-5000, USA
| | - Tatiana Giraud
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France;
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9
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Antonovics J, Abbate JL, Bruns EL, Fields PD, Forrester NJ, Gilbert KJ, Hood ME, Park T, Taylor DR. Effect of the anther-smut fungus Microbotryum on the juvenile growth of its host Silene latifolia. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2018; 105:1088-1095. [PMID: 29995339 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2018] [Accepted: 03/21/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE OF THE STUDY Plant pathogens that form persistent systemic infections within plants have the potential to affect multiple plant life history traits, yet we tend to focus only on visible symptoms. Anther smut of Silene latifolia caused by the fungus Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae induces the anthers of its host to support fungal spore production instead of pollen, and the pathogen is primarily transmitted among flowering plants by pollinators. Nevertheless, most of its life cycle is spent in the asymptomatic vegetative phase, and spores falling on seedlings or nonflowering plants can also infect the host. The purpose of this study was to ask whether the fungus also had an effect on its host plant in the juvenile vegetative phase before flowering as this is important for the disease dynamics in species where infection of seedlings is commonplace. METHODS Leaf length and leaf number of inoculated and uninoculated juvenile plants were compared in greenhouse experiments, and in one experiment, disease status of the plants at flowering was determined. KEY RESULTS Inoculated plants had shorter but more leaves, and reduced root mass at the early juvenile (preflowering) stage. Some of these effects were detectable in plants that were inoculated but showed no disease symptoms at flowering. CONCLUSIONS These results show that pathogenic fungi can have endophyte-like effects even in the total absence of their typical and more charismatic symptoms, and conversely that the assessment of endophyte effects on the fitness of their hosts should include all stages of the host life cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janis Antonovics
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA
| | - Jessica L Abbate
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA
| | - Emily L Bruns
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA
| | - Peter D Fields
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA
| | | | | | - Michael E Hood
- Biology Department, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA
| | - Timothy Park
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA
| | - Douglas R Taylor
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA
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Wallen RM, Perlin MH. An Overview of the Function and Maintenance of Sexual Reproduction in Dikaryotic Fungi. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:503. [PMID: 29619017 PMCID: PMC5871698 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2017] [Accepted: 03/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Sexual reproduction likely evolved as protection from environmental stresses, specifically, to repair DNA damage, often via homologous recombination. In higher eukaryotes, meiosis and the production of gametes with allelic combinations different from parental type provides the side effect of increased genetic variation. In fungi it appears that while the maintenance of meiosis is paramount for success, outcrossing is not a driving force. In the subkingdom Dikarya, fungal members are characterized by existence of a dikaryon for extended stages within the life cycle. Such fungi possess functional or, in some cases, relictual, loci that govern sexual reproduction between members of their own species. All mating systems identified so far in the Dikarya employ a pheromone/receptor system for haploid organisms to recognize a compatible mating partner, although the paradigm in the Ascomycota, e.g., Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is that genes for the pheromone precursor and receptor are not found in the mating-type locus but rather are regulated by its products. Similarly, the mating systems in the Ascomycota are bipolar, with two non-allelic idiomorphs expressed in cells of opposite mating type. In contrast, for the Basidiomycota, both bipolar and tetrapolar mating systems have been well characterized; further, at least one locus directly encodes the pheromone precursor and the receptor for the pheromone of a different mating type, while a separate locus encodes proteins that may regulate the first locus and/or additional genes required for downstream events. Heterozygosity at both of two unlinked loci is required for cells to productively mate in tetrapolar systems, whereas in bipolar systems the two loci are tightly linked. Finally, a trade-off exists in wild fungal populations between sexual reproduction and the associated costs, with adverse conditions leading to mating. For fungal mammal pathogens, the products of sexual reproduction can be targets for the host immune system. The opposite appears true for phytopathogenic fungi, where mating and pathogenicity are inextricably linked. Here, we explore, compare, and contrast different strategies used among the Dikarya, both saprophytic and pathogenic fungi, and highlight differences between pathogens of mammals and pathogens of plants, providing context for selective pressures acting on this interesting group of fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael H. Perlin
- Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, United States
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Stukenbrock EH, Dutheil JY. Fine-Scale Recombination Maps of Fungal Plant Pathogens Reveal Dynamic Recombination Landscapes and Intragenic Hotspots. Genetics 2018; 208:1209-1229. [PMID: 29263029 PMCID: PMC5844332 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.117.300502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2017] [Accepted: 12/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Meiotic recombination is an important driver of evolution. Variability in the intensity of recombination across chromosomes can affect sequence composition, nucleotide variation, and rates of adaptation. In many organisms, recombination events are concentrated within short segments termed recombination hotspots. The variation in recombination rate and positions of recombination hotspot can be studied using population genomics data and statistical methods. In this study, we conducted population genomics analyses to address the evolution of recombination in two closely related fungal plant pathogens: the prominent wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici and a sister species infecting wild grasses Z. ardabiliae We specifically addressed whether recombination landscapes, including hotspot positions, are conserved in the two recently diverged species and if recombination contributes to rapid evolution of pathogenicity traits. We conducted a detailed simulation analysis to assess the performance of methods of recombination rate estimation based on patterns of linkage disequilibrium, in particular in the context of high nucleotide diversity. Our analyses reveal overall high recombination rates, a lack of suppressed recombination in centromeres, and significantly lower recombination rates on chromosomes that are known to be accessory. The comparison of the recombination landscapes of the two species reveals a strong correlation of recombination rate at the megabase scale, but little correlation at smaller scales. The recombination landscapes in both pathogen species are dominated by frequent recombination hotspots across the genome including coding regions, suggesting a strong impact of recombination on gene evolution. A significant but small fraction of these hotspots colocalize between the two species, suggesting that hotspot dynamics contribute to the overall pattern of fast evolving recombination in these species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva H Stukenbrock
- Environmental Genomics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, 24306 Plön, Germany
- Environmental Genomics, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, 24118, Germany
| | - Julien Y Dutheil
- Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, 24306 Plön, Germany
- Institut des Sciences de L'Évolution de Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Montpellier 2, 34095, France
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12
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13
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Evolutionary strata on young mating-type chromosomes despite the lack of sexual antagonism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017. [PMID: 28630332 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1701658114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Sex chromosomes can display successive steps of recombination suppression known as "evolutionary strata," which are thought to result from the successive linkage of sexually antagonistic genes to sex-determining genes. However, there is little evidence to support this explanation. Here we investigate whether evolutionary strata can evolve without sexual antagonism using fungi that display suppressed recombination extending beyond loci determining mating compatibility despite lack of male/female roles associated with their mating types. By comparing full-length chromosome assemblies from five anther-smut fungi with or without recombination suppression in their mating-type chromosomes, we inferred the ancestral gene order and derived chromosomal arrangements in this group. This approach shed light on the chromosomal fusion underlying the linkage of mating-type loci in fungi and provided evidence for multiple clearly resolved evolutionary strata over a range of ages (0.9-2.1 million years) in mating-type chromosomes. Several evolutionary strata did not include genes involved in mating-type determination. The existence of strata devoid of mating-type genes, despite the lack of sexual antagonism, calls for a unified theory of sex-related chromosome evolution, incorporating, for example, the influence of partially linked deleterious mutations and the maintenance of neutral rearrangement polymorphism due to balancing selection on sexes and mating types.
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14
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Coelho MA, Bakkeren G, Sun S, Hood ME, Giraud T. Fungal Sex: The Basidiomycota. Microbiol Spectr 2017; 5:10.1128/microbiolspec.FUNK-0046-2016. [PMID: 28597825 PMCID: PMC5467461 DOI: 10.1128/microbiolspec.funk-0046-2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2016] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Fungi of the Basidiomycota, representing major pathogen lineages and mushroom-forming species, exhibit diverse means to achieve sexual reproduction, with particularly varied mechanisms to determine compatibilities of haploid mating partners. For species that require mating between distinct genotypes, discrimination is usually based on both the reciprocal exchange of diffusible mating pheromones, rather than sexes, and the interactions of homeodomain protein signals after cell fusion. Both compatibility factors must be heterozygous in the product of mating, and genetic linkage relationships of the mating pheromone/receptor and homeodomain genes largely determine the complex patterns of mating-type variation. Independent segregation of the two compatibility factors can create four haploid mating genotypes from meiosis, referred to as tetrapolarity. This condition is thought to be ancestral to the basidiomycetes. Alternatively, cosegregation by linkage of the two mating factors, or in some cases the absence of the pheromone-based discrimination, yields only two mating types from meiosis, referred to as bipolarity. Several species are now known to have large and highly rearranged chromosomal regions linked to mating-type genes. At the population level, polymorphism of the mating-type genes is an exceptional aspect of some basidiomycete fungi, where selection under outcrossing for rare, intercompatible allelic variants is thought to be responsible for numbers of mating types that may reach several thousand. Advances in genome sequencing and assembly are yielding new insights by comparative approaches among and within basidiomycete species, with the promise to resolve the evolutionary origins and dynamics of mating compatibility genetics in this major eukaryotic lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco A. Coelho
- UCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
| | - Guus Bakkeren
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Summerland Research and Development Centre Summerland, BC, V0H 1Z0, Canada
| | - Sheng Sun
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Michael E. Hood
- Department of Biology, Amherst College, 01002-5000 Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Tatiana Giraud
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
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Badouin H, Gladieux P, Gouzy J, Siguenza S, Aguileta G, Snirc A, Le Prieur S, Jeziorski C, Branca A, Giraud T. Widespread selective sweeps throughout the genome of model plant pathogenic fungi and identification of effector candidates. Mol Ecol 2017; 26:2041-2062. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.13976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2016] [Revised: 12/15/2016] [Accepted: 12/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- H. Badouin
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech; Université Paris-Saclay; 91400 Orsay France
| | - P. Gladieux
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech; Université Paris-Saclay; 91400 Orsay France
- UMR BGPI; Campus International de Baillarguet; INRA; 34398 Montpellier France
| | - J. Gouzy
- Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM); UMR441; INRA; 31326 Castanet-Tolosan France
- Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM); UMR2594; CNRS; 31326 Castanet-Tolosan France
| | - S. Siguenza
- Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM); UMR441; INRA; 31326 Castanet-Tolosan France
- Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM); UMR2594; CNRS; 31326 Castanet-Tolosan France
| | - G. Aguileta
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech; Université Paris-Saclay; 91400 Orsay France
| | - A. Snirc
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech; Université Paris-Saclay; 91400 Orsay France
| | - S. Le Prieur
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech; Université Paris-Saclay; 91400 Orsay France
| | - C. Jeziorski
- Genotoul; GeT-PlaGe; INRA Auzeville 31326 Castanet-Tolosan France
- UAR1209; INRA Auzeville 31326 Castanet-Tolosan France
| | - A. Branca
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech; Université Paris-Saclay; 91400 Orsay France
| | - T. Giraud
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech; Université Paris-Saclay; 91400 Orsay France
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16
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Fortuna TM, Snirc A, Badouin H, Gouzy J, Siguenza S, Esquerre D, Le Prieur S, Shykoff JA, Giraud T. Polymorphic Microsatellite Markers for the Tetrapolar Anther-Smut Fungus Microbotryum saponariae Based on Genome Sequencing. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0165656. [PMID: 27832131 PMCID: PMC5104459 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0165656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2016] [Accepted: 10/14/2016] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Anther-smut fungi belonging to the genus Microbotryum sterilize their host plants by aborting ovaries and replacing pollen by fungal spores. Sibling Microbotryum species are highly specialized on their host plants and they have been widely used as models for studies of ecology and evolution of plant pathogenic fungi. However, most studies have focused, so far, on M. lychnidis-dioicae that parasitizes the white campion Silene latifolia. Microbotryum saponariae, parasitizing mainly Saponaria officinalis, is an interesting anther-smut fungus, since it belongs to a tetrapolar lineage (i.e., with two independently segregating mating-type loci), while most of the anther-smut Microbotryum fungi are bipolar (i.e., with a single mating-type locus). Saponaria officinalis is a widespread long-lived perennial plant species with multiple flowering stems, which makes its anther-smut pathogen a good model for studying phylogeography and within-host multiple infections. Principal Findings Here, based on a generated genome sequence of M. saponariae we developed 6 multiplexes with a total of 22 polymorphic microsatellite markers using an inexpensive and efficient method. We scored these markers in fungal individuals collected from 97 populations across Europe, and found that the number of their alleles ranged from 2 to 11, and their expected heterozygosity from 0.01 to 0.58. Cross-species amplification was examined using nine other Microbotryum species parasitizing hosts belonging to Silene, Dianthus and Knautia genera. All loci were successfully amplified in at least two other Microbotryum species. Significance These newly developed markers will provide insights into the population genetic structure and the occurrence of within-host multiple infections of M. saponariae. In addition, the draft genome of M. saponariae, as well as one of the described markers will be useful resources for studying the evolution of the breeding systems in the genus Microbotryum and the evolution of specialization onto different plant species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taiadjana M. Fortuna
- Laboratoire d’Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Alodie Snirc
- Laboratoire d’Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
| | - Hélène Badouin
- Laboratoire d’Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
| | - Jérome Gouzy
- INRA, Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), UMR441, Castanet-Tolosan, F-31326, France
- CNRS, Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), UMR2594, Castanet-Tolosan, F-31326, France
| | - Sophie Siguenza
- INRA, Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), UMR441, Castanet-Tolosan, F-31326, France
- CNRS, Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), UMR2594, Castanet-Tolosan, F-31326, France
| | - Diane Esquerre
- GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, INRA, INPT, ENVT, Castanet-Tolosan, F-31326, France
| | - Stéphanie Le Prieur
- Laboratoire d’Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
| | - Jacqui A. Shykoff
- Laboratoire d’Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
| | - Tatiana Giraud
- Laboratoire d’Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
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17
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Toh SS, Perlin MH. Resurgence of Less-Studied Smut Fungi as Models of Phytopathogenesis in the Omics Age. PHYTOPATHOLOGY 2016; 106:1244-1254. [PMID: 27111800 DOI: 10.1094/phyto-02-16-0075-rvw] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The smut fungi form a large, diverse, and nonmonophyletic group of plant pathogens that have long served as both important pests of human agriculture and, also, as fertile organisms of scientific investigation. As modern techniques of molecular genetic analysis became available, many previously studied species that proved refractive to these techniques fell by the wayside and were neglected. Now, as the advent of rapid and affordable next-generation sequencing provides genomic and transcriptomic resources for even these "forgotten" fungi, several species are making a comeback and retaking prominent places in phytopathogenic research. In this review, we highlight several of these smut fungi, with special emphasis on Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae, an anther smut whose molecular genetic tools have finally begun to catch up with its historical importance in classical genetics and now provide mechanistic insights for ecological studies, evolution of host-pathogen interaction, and investigations of emerging infectious disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Su San Toh
- First and second authors: Department of Biology and Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville, Kentucky; and first author: Defence Medical and Environmental Research Institute, DSO National Laboratories, Singapore
| | - Michael H Perlin
- First and second authors: Department of Biology and Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville, Kentucky; and first author: Defence Medical and Environmental Research Institute, DSO National Laboratories, Singapore
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18
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Roy SW. Is Genome Complexity a Consequence of Inefficient Selection? Evidence from Intron Creation in Nonrecombining Regions. Mol Biol Evol 2016; 33:3088-3094. [DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msw172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
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19
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Aguileta G, Badouin H, Hood ME, Møller AP, Le Prieur S, Snirc A, Siguenza S, Mousseau TA, Shykoff JA, Cuomo CA, Giraud T. Lower prevalence but similar fitness in a parasitic fungus at higher radiation levels near Chernobyl. Mol Ecol 2016; 25:3370-83. [PMID: 27136128 DOI: 10.1111/mec.13675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2015] [Revised: 04/04/2016] [Accepted: 04/15/2016] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Nuclear disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima provide examples of effects of acute ionizing radiation on mutations that can affect the fitness and distribution of species. Here, we investigated the prevalence of Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae, a pollinator-transmitted fungal pathogen of plants causing anther-smut disease in Chernobyl, its viability, fertility and karyotype variation, and the accumulation of nonsynonymous mutations in its genome. We collected diseased flowers of Silene latifolia from locations ranging by more than two orders of magnitude in background radiation, from 0.05 to 21.03 μGy/h. Disease prevalence decreased significantly with increasing radiation level, possibly due to lower pollinator abundance and altered pollinator behaviour. Viability and fertility, measured as the budding rate of haploid sporidia following meiosis from the diploid teliospores, did not vary with increasing radiation levels and neither did karyotype overall structure and level of chromosomal size heterozygosity. We sequenced the genomes of twelve samples from Chernobyl and of four samples collected from uncontaminated areas and analysed alignments of 6068 predicted genes, corresponding to 1.04 × 10(7) base pairs. We found no dose-dependent differences in substitution rates (neither dN, dS, nor dN/dS). Thus, we found no significant evidence of increased deleterious mutation rates at higher levels of background radiation in this plant pathogen. We even found lower levels of nonsynonymous substitution rates in contaminated areas compared to control regions, suggesting that purifying selection was stronger in contaminated than uncontaminated areas. We briefly discuss the possibilities for a mechanistic basis of radio resistance in this nonmelanized fungus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Aguileta
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
| | - Helene Badouin
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
| | - Michael E Hood
- Biology Department, Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002, USA
| | - Anders P Møller
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
| | - Stephanie Le Prieur
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
| | - Alodie Snirc
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
| | - Sophie Siguenza
- INRA, Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), UMR441, Castanet-Tolosan, F-31326, France.,CNRS, Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), UMR2594, Castanet-Tolosan, F-31326, France
| | - Timothy A Mousseau
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
| | - Jacqui A Shykoff
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
| | | | - Tatiana Giraud
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France
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20
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Toh SS, Treves DS, Barati MT, Perlin MH. Reliable transformation system for Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae informed by genome and transcriptome project. Arch Microbiol 2016; 198:813-25. [PMID: 27215216 DOI: 10.1007/s00203-016-1244-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2016] [Revised: 05/08/2016] [Accepted: 05/16/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae is a member of a species complex infecting host plants in the Caryophyllaceae. It is used as a model system in many areas of research, but attempts to make this organism tractable for reverse genetic approaches have not been fruitful. Here, we exploited the recently obtained genome sequence and transcriptome analysis to inform our design of constructs for use in Agrobacterium-mediated transformation techniques currently available for other fungi. Reproducible transformation was demonstrated at the genomic, transcriptional and functional levels. Moreover, these initial proof-of-principle experiments provide evidence that supports the findings from initial global transcriptome analysis regarding expression from the respective promoters under different growth conditions of the fungus. The technique thus provides for the first time the ability to stably introduce transgenes and over-express target M. lychnidis-dioicae genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Su San Toh
- Department of Biology and Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA
| | | | - Michelle T Barati
- Kidney Disease Program, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
| | - Michael H Perlin
- Department of Biology and Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA.
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21
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Pandey RS, Azad RK. Deciphering evolutionary strata on plant sex chromosomes and fungal mating-type chromosomes through compositional segmentation. PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2016; 90:359-373. [PMID: 26694866 DOI: 10.1007/s11103-015-0422-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2015] [Accepted: 12/15/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Sex chromosomes have evolved from a pair of homologous autosomes which differentiated into sex determination systems, such as XY or ZW system, as a consequence of successive recombination suppression between the gametologous chromosomes. Identifying the regions of recombination suppression, namely, the "evolutionary strata", is central to understanding the history and dynamics of sex chromosome evolution. Evolution of sex chromosomes as a consequence of serial recombination suppressions is well-studied for mammals and birds, but not for plants, although 48 dioecious plants have already been reported. Only two plants Silene latifolia and papaya have been studied until now for the presence of evolutionary strata on their X chromosomes, made possible by the sequencing of sex-linked genes on both the X and Y chromosomes, which is a requirement of all current methods that determine stratum structure based on the comparison of gametologous sex chromosomes. To circumvent this limitation and detect strata even if only the sequence of sex chromosome in the homogametic sex (i.e. X or Z chromosome) is available, we have developed an integrated segmentation and clustering method. In application to gene sequences on the papaya X chromosome and protein-coding sequences on the S. latifolia X chromosome, our method could decipher all known evolutionary strata, as reported by previous studies. Our method, after validating on known strata on the papaya and S. latifolia X chromosome, was applied to the chromosome 19 of Populus trichocarpa, an incipient sex chromosome, deciphering two, yet unknown, evolutionary strata. In addition, we applied this approach to the recently sequenced sex chromosome V of the brown alga Ectocarpus sp. that has a haploid sex determination system (UV system) recovering the sex determining and pseudoautosomal regions, and then to the mating-type chromosomes of an anther-smut fungus Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae predicting five strata in the non-recombining region of both the chromosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ravi S Pandey
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA
| | - Rajeev K Azad
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA.
- Department of Mathematics, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA.
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22
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Heitman J. Evolution of sexual reproduction: a view from the Fungal Kingdom supports an evolutionary epoch with sex before sexes. FUNGAL BIOL REV 2015; 29:108-117. [PMID: 26834823 DOI: 10.1016/j.fbr.2015.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Sexual reproduction is conserved throughout each supergroup within the eukaryotic tree of life, and therefore thought to have evolved once and to have been present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). Given the antiquity of sex, there are features of sexual reproduction that are ancient and ancestral, and thus shared in diverse extant organisms. On the other hand, the vast evolutionary distance that separates any given extant species from the LECA necessarily implies that other features of sex will be derived. While most types of sex we are familiar with involve two opposite sexes or mating types, recent studies in the fungal kingdom have revealed novel and unusual patterns of sexual reproduction, including unisexual reproduction. In this mode of reproduction a single mating type can on its own undergo self-fertile/homothallic reproduction, either with itself or with other members of the population of the same mating type. Unisexual reproduction has arisen independently as a derived feature in several different lineages. That a myriad of different types of sex determination and sex determinants abound in animals, plants, protists, and fungi suggests that sex specification itself may not be ancestral and instead may be a derived trait. If so, then the original form of sexual reproduction may have been unisexual, onto which sexes were superimposed as a later feature. In this model, unisexual reproduction is both an ancestral and a derived trait. In this review, we consider what is new and what is old about sexual reproduction from the unique vantage point of the fungal kingdom.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Heitman
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710 USA
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23
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24
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Idnurm A, Hood ME, Johannesson H, Giraud T. Contrasted patterns in mating-type chromosomes in fungi: hotspots versus coldspots of recombination. FUNGAL BIOL REV 2015; 29:220-229. [PMID: 26688691 PMCID: PMC4680991 DOI: 10.1016/j.fbr.2015.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
It is striking that, while central to sexual reproduction, the genomic regions determining sex or mating-types are often characterized by suppressed recombination that leads to a decrease in the efficiency of selection, shelters genetic load, and inevitably contributes to their genic degeneration. Research on model and lesser-explored fungi has revealed similarities in recombination suppression of the genomic regions involved in mating compatibility across eukaryotes, but fungi also provide opposite examples of enhanced recombination in the genomic regions that determine their mating types. These contrasted patterns of genetic recombination (sensu lato, including gene conversion and ectopic recombination) in regions of the genome involved in mating compatibility point to important yet complex processes occurring in their evolution. A number of pieces in this puzzle remain to be solved, in particular on the unclear selective forces that may cause the patterns of recombination, prompting theoretical developments and experimental studies. This review thus points to fungi as a fascinating group for studying the various evolutionary forces at play in the genomic regions involved in mating compatibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Idnurm
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Michael E. Hood
- Department of Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002 USA
| | - Hanna Johannesson
- Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Tatiana Giraud
- Laboratoire Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, UMR 8079 CNRS-UPS-AgroParisTech, Bâtiment 360, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay cedex, France
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25
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Abstract
Research over the past two decades shows that both recombination and clonality are likely to contribute to the reproduction of all fungi. This view of fungi is different from the historical and still commonly held view that a large fraction of fungi are exclusively clonal and that some fungi have been exclusively clonal for hundreds of millions of years. Here, we first will consider how these two historical views have changed. Then we will examine the impact on fungal research of the concept of restrained recombination [Tibayrenc M, Ayala FJ (2012) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109 (48):E3305-E3313]. Using animal and human pathogenic fungi, we examine extrinsic restraints on recombination associated with bottlenecks in genetic variation caused by geographic dispersal and extrinsic restraints caused by shifts in reproductive mode associated with either disease transmission or hybridization. Using species of the model yeast Saccharomyces and the model filamentous fungus Neurospora, we examine intrinsic restraints on recombination associated with mating systems that range from strictly clonal at one extreme to fully outbreeding at the other and those that lie between, including selfing and inbreeding. We also consider the effect of nomenclature on perception of reproductive mode and a means of comparing the relative impact of clonality and recombination on fungal populations. Last, we consider a recent hypothesis suggesting that fungi thought to have the most severe intrinsic constraints on recombination actually may have the fewest.
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26
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Hood ME, Scott M, Hwang M. Breaking linkage between mating compatibility factors: Tetrapolarity in Microbotryum. Evolution 2015; 69:2561-72. [PMID: 26339889 DOI: 10.1111/evo.12765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2015] [Accepted: 08/02/2015] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Linkage of genes determining separate self-incompatibility mechanisms is a general expectation of sexual eukaryotes that helps to resolve conflicts between reproductive assurance and recombination. However, in some organisms, multiple loci are required to be heterozygous in offspring while segregating independently in meiosis. This condition, termed "tetrapolarity" in basidiomycete fungi, originated in the ancestor to that phylum, and there have been multiple reports of subsequent transitions to "bipolarity" (i.e., linkage of separate mating factors). In the genus Microbotryum, we present the first report of the breaking of linkage between two haploid self-incompatibility factors and derivation of a tetrapolar breeding system. This breaking of linkage is associated with major alteration of genome structure, with the compatibility factors residing on separate mating-type chromosome pairs, reduced in size but retaining the structural dimorphism characteristic for regions of recombination suppression. The challenge to reproductive assurance from unlinked compatibility factors may be overcome by the automictic mating system in Microbotryum (i.e., mating among products of the same meiosis). As a curious outcome, this linkage transition and its effects upon outcrossing compatibility rates may reinforce automixis as a mating system. These observations contribute to understanding mating systems and linkage as fundamental principles of sexual life cycles, with potential impacts on conventional wisdom regarding mating-type evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael E Hood
- Department of Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01002.
| | - Molly Scott
- Department of Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01002
| | - Mindy Hwang
- Department of Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01002
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27
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Evolution of Mating Systems in Basidiomycetes and the Genetic Architecture Underlying Mating-Type Determination in the Yeast Leucosporidium scottii. Genetics 2015; 201:75-89. [PMID: 26178967 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.115.177717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2015] [Accepted: 07/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In most fungi, sexual reproduction is bipolar; that is, two alternate sets of genes at a single mating-type (MAT) locus determine two mating types. However, in the Basidiomycota, a unique (tetrapolar) reproductive system emerged in which sexual identity is governed by two unlinked MAT loci, each of which controls independent mechanisms of self/nonself recognition. Tetrapolar-to-bipolar transitions have occurred on multiple occasions in the Basidiomycota, resulting, for example, from linkage of the two MAT loci into a single inheritable unit. Nevertheless, owing to the scarcity of molecular data regarding tetrapolar systems in the earliest-branching lineage of the Basidiomycota (subphylum Pucciniomycotina), it is presently unclear if the last common ancestor was tetrapolar or bipolar. Here, we address this question, by investigating the mating system of the Pucciniomycotina yeast Leucosporidium scottii. Using whole-genome sequencing and chromoblot analysis, we discovered that sexual reproduction is governed by two physically unlinked gene clusters: a multiallelic homeodomain (HD) locus and a pheromone/receptor (P/R) locus that is biallelic, thereby dismissing the existence of a third P/R allele as proposed earlier. Allele distribution of both MAT genes in natural populations showed that the two loci were in strong linkage disequilibrium, but independent assortment of MAT alleles was observed in the meiotic progeny of a test cross. The sexual cycle produces fertile progeny with similar proportions of the four mating types, but approximately 2/3 of the progeny was found to be nonhaploid. Our study adds to others in reinforcing tetrapolarity as the ancestral state of all basidiomycetes.
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Perlin MH, Amselem J, Fontanillas E, Toh SS, Chen Z, Goldberg J, Duplessis S, Henrissat B, Young S, Zeng Q, Aguileta G, Petit E, Badouin H, Andrews J, Razeeq D, Gabaldón T, Quesneville H, Giraud T, Hood ME, Schultz DJ, Cuomo CA. Sex and parasites: genomic and transcriptomic analysis of Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae, the biotrophic and plant-castrating anther smut fungus. BMC Genomics 2015; 16:461. [PMID: 26076695 PMCID: PMC4469406 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-015-1660-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2014] [Accepted: 05/28/2015] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The genus Microbotryum includes plant pathogenic fungi afflicting a wide variety of hosts with anther smut disease. Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae infects Silene latifolia and replaces host pollen with fungal spores, exhibiting biotrophy and necrosis associated with altering plant development. Results We determined the haploid genome sequence for M. lychnidis-dioicae and analyzed whole transcriptome data from plant infections and other stages of the fungal lifecycle, revealing the inventory and expression level of genes that facilitate pathogenic growth. Compared to related fungi, an expanded number of major facilitator superfamily transporters and secretory lipases were detected; lipase gene expression was found to be altered by exposure to lipid compounds, which signaled a switch to dikaryotic, pathogenic growth. In addition, while enzymes to digest cellulose, xylan, xyloglucan, and highly substituted forms of pectin were absent, along with depletion of peroxidases and superoxide dismutases that protect the fungus from oxidative stress, the repertoire of glycosyltransferases and of enzymes that could manipulate host development has expanded. A total of 14 % of the genome was categorized as repetitive sequences. Transposable elements have accumulated in mating-type chromosomal regions and were also associated across the genome with gene clusters of small secreted proteins, which may mediate host interactions. Conclusions The unique absence of enzyme classes for plant cell wall degradation and maintenance of enzymes that break down components of pollen tubes and flowers provides a striking example of biotrophic host adaptation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1660-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael H Perlin
- Department of Biology, Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA.
| | - Joelle Amselem
- Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Unité de Recherche Génomique Info (URGI), Versailles, France. .,Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Biologie et gestion des risques en agriculture (BIOGER), Thiverval-Grignon, France.
| | - Eric Fontanillas
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Bâtiment 360, Université Paris-Sud, F-91405, Orsay, France. .,CNRS, F-91405, Orsay, France.
| | - Su San Toh
- Department of Biology, Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA.
| | - Zehua Chen
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA.
| | | | - Sebastien Duplessis
- INRA, UMR 1136, Interactions Arbres-Microorganismes, Champenoux, France. .,UMR 1136, Université de Lorraine, Interactions Arbres-Microorganismes, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
| | - Bernard Henrissat
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UMR7257, Université Aix-Marseille, 13288, Marseille, France. .,Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
| | - Sarah Young
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA.
| | - Qiandong Zeng
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA.
| | | | - Elsa Petit
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Bâtiment 360, Université Paris-Sud, F-91405, Orsay, France. .,CNRS, F-91405, Orsay, France. .,Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UMR7257, Université Aix-Marseille, 13288, Marseille, France.
| | - Helene Badouin
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Bâtiment 360, Université Paris-Sud, F-91405, Orsay, France. .,CNRS, F-91405, Orsay, France.
| | - Jared Andrews
- Department of Biology, Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA.
| | - Dominique Razeeq
- Department of Biology, Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA.
| | - Toni Gabaldón
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona, Spain. .,Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain. .,Institució Catalana d'Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Hadi Quesneville
- Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Unité de Recherche Génomique Info (URGI), Versailles, France.
| | - Tatiana Giraud
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Bâtiment 360, Université Paris-Sud, F-91405, Orsay, France. .,CNRS, F-91405, Orsay, France.
| | - Michael E Hood
- Department of Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, 01002, USA.
| | - David J Schultz
- Department of Biology, Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA.
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Chaos of Rearrangements in the Mating-Type Chromosomes of the Anther-Smut Fungus Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae. Genetics 2015; 200:1275-84. [PMID: 26044594 PMCID: PMC4574255 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.115.177709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2015] [Accepted: 06/02/2015] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Sex chromosomes in plants and animals and fungal mating-type chromosomes often show exceptional genome features, with extensive suppression of homologous recombination and cytological differentiation between members of the diploid chromosome pair. Despite strong interest in the genetics of these chromosomes, their large regions of suppressed recombination often are enriched in transposable elements and therefore can be challenging to assemble. Here we show that the latest improvements of the PacBio sequencing yield assembly of the whole genome of the anther-smut fungus, Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae (the pathogenic fungus causing anther-smut disease of Silene latifolia), into finished chromosomes or chromosome arms, even for the repeat-rich mating-type chromosomes and centromeres. Suppressed recombination of the mating-type chromosomes is revealed to span nearly 90% of their lengths, with extreme levels of rearrangements, transposable element accumulation, and differentiation between the two mating types. We observed no correlation between allelic divergence and physical position in the nonrecombining regions of the mating-type chromosomes. This may result from gene conversion or from rearrangements of ancient evolutionary strata, i.e., successive steps of suppressed recombination. Centromeres were found to be composed mainly of copia-like transposable elements and to possess specific minisatellite repeats identical between the different chromosomes. We also identified subtelomeric motifs. In addition, extensive signs of degeneration were detected in the nonrecombining regions in the form of transposable element accumulation and of hundreds of gene losses on each mating-type chromosome. Furthermore, our study highlights the potential of the latest breakthrough PacBio chemistry to resolve complex genome architectures.
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Fontanillas E, Hood ME, Badouin H, Petit E, Barbe V, Gouzy J, de Vienne DM, Aguileta G, Poulain J, Wincker P, Chen Z, Toh SS, Cuomo CA, Perlin MH, Gladieux P, Giraud T. Degeneration of the nonrecombining regions in the mating-type chromosomes of the anther-smut fungi. Mol Biol Evol 2015; 32:928-43. [PMID: 25534033 PMCID: PMC4379399 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msu396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Dimorphic mating-type chromosomes in fungi are excellent models for understanding the genomic consequences of recombination suppression. Their suppressed recombination and reduced effective population size are expected to limit the efficacy of natural selection, leading to genomic degeneration. Our aim was to identify the sequences of the mating-type chromosomes (a1 and a2) of the anther-smut fungi and to investigate degeneration in their nonrecombining regions. We used the haploid a1 Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae reference genome sequence. The a1 and a2 mating-type chromosomes were both isolated electrophoretically and sequenced. Integration with restriction-digest optical maps identified regions of recombination and nonrecombination in the mating-type chromosomes. Genome sequence data were also obtained for 12 other Microbotryum species. We found strong evidence of degeneration across the genus in the nonrecombining regions of the mating-type chromosomes, with significantly higher rates of nonsynonymous substitution (dN/dS) than in nonmating-type chromosomes or in recombining regions of the mating-type chromosomes. The nonrecombining regions of the mating-type chromosomes also showed high transposable element content, weak gene expression, and gene losses. The levels of degeneration did not differ between the a1 and a2 mating-type chromosomes, consistent with the lack of homogametic/heterogametic asymmetry between them, and contrasting with X/Y or Z/W sex chromosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Fontanillas
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Bâtiment 360, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France CNRS, Orsay, France
| | | | - Hélène Badouin
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Bâtiment 360, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France CNRS, Orsay, France
| | - Elsa Petit
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Bâtiment 360, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France CNRS, Orsay, France Department of Biology, Amherst College
| | - Valérie Barbe
- Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), Institut de Génomique (IG), Genoscope, Evry, France
| | - Jérôme Gouzy
- INRA, Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), UMR441, Castanet-Tolosan, France CNRS, Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), UMR2594, Castanet-Tolosan, France
| | - Damien M de Vienne
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5558, Université Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France Université de Lyon, Lyon, France Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona, Spain Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Gabriela Aguileta
- Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona, Spain Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Patrick Wincker
- Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), Institut de Génomique (IG), Genoscope, Evry, France CNRS UMR 8030, Evry, France
| | - Zehua Chen
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Su San Toh
- Department of Biology, Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville
| | | | - Michael H Perlin
- Department of Biology, Program on Disease Evolution, University of Louisville
| | - Pierre Gladieux
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Bâtiment 360, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France CNRS, Orsay, France
| | - Tatiana Giraud
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Bâtiment 360, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France CNRS, Orsay, France
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31
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Immler S, Otto SP. The evolution of sex chromosomes in organisms with separate haploid sexes. Evolution 2015; 69:694-708. [PMID: 25582562 DOI: 10.1111/evo.12602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2014] [Accepted: 12/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of dimorphic sex chromosomes is driven largely by the evolution of reduced recombination and the subsequent accumulation of deleterious mutations. Although these processes are increasingly well understood in diploid organisms, the evolution of dimorphic sex chromosomes in haploid organisms (U/V) has been virtually unstudied theoretically. We analyze a model to investigate the evolution of linkage between fitness loci and the sex-determining region in U/V species. In a second step, we test how prone nonrecombining regions are to degeneration due to accumulation of deleterious mutations. Our modeling predicts that the decay of recombination on the sex chromosomes and the addition of strata via fusions will be just as much a part of the evolution of haploid sex chromosomes as in diploid sex chromosome systems. Reduced recombination is broadly favored, as long as there is some fitness difference between haploid males and females. The degeneration of the sex-determining region due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations is expected to be slower in haploid organisms because of the absence of masking. Nevertheless, balancing selection often drives greater differentiation between the U/V sex chromosomes than in X/Y and Z/W systems. We summarize empirical evidence for haploid sex chromosome evolution and discuss our predictions in light of these findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Immler
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden.
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32
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Recent and massive expansion of the mating-type-specific region in the smut fungus Microbotryum. Genetics 2015; 199:809-16. [PMID: 25567990 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.114.171702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The presence of large genomic regions with suppressed recombination (SR) is a key shared property of some sex- and mating-type determining (mat) chromosomes identified to date in animals, plants, and fungi. Why such regions form and how they evolve remain central questions in evolutionary genetics. The smut fungus Microbotryum lychnis-dioicae is a basidiomycete fungus in which dimorphic mat chromosomes have been reported, but the size, age, and evolutionary dynamics of the SR region remains unresolved. To identify the SR region in M. lychnis-dioicae and to study its evolution, we sequenced 12 genomes (6 per mating type) of this species and identified the genomic contigs that show fixed sequence differences between the mating types. We report that the SR region spans more than half of the mat chromosome (>2.3 Mbp) and that it is of very recent origin (∼2 × 10(6) years) as the average sequence divergence between mating types was only 2% in the SR region. This contrasts with a much higher divergence in and around the mating-type determining pheromone receptor locus in the SR, suggesting a recent and massive expansion of the SR region. Our results comprise the first reported case of recent massive SR expansion documented in a basidiomycete fungus.
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Ahmed S, Cock JM, Pessia E, Luthringer R, Cormier A, Robuchon M, Sterck L, Peters AF, Dittami SM, Corre E, Valero M, Aury JM, Roze D, Van de Peer Y, Bothwell J, Marais GAB, Coelho SM. A haploid system of sex determination in the brown alga Ectocarpus sp. Curr Biol 2014; 24:1945-57. [PMID: 25176635 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.07.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2013] [Revised: 02/11/2014] [Accepted: 07/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A common feature of most genetic sex-determination systems studied so far is that sex is determined by nonrecombining genomic regions, which can be of various sizes depending on the species. These regions have evolved independently and repeatedly across diverse groups. A number of such sex-determining regions (SDRs) have been studied in animals, plants, and fungi, but very little is known about the evolution of sexes in other eukaryotic lineages. RESULTS We report here the sequencing and genomic analysis of the SDR of Ectocarpus, a brown alga that has been evolving independently from plants, animals, and fungi for over one giga-annum. In Ectocarpus, sex is expressed during the haploid phase of the life cycle, and both the female (U) and the male (V) sex chromosomes contain nonrecombining regions. The U and V of this species have been diverging for more than 70 mega-annum, yet gene degeneration has been modest, and the SDR is relatively small, with no evidence for evolutionary strata. These features may be explained by the occurrence of strong purifying selection during the haploid phase of the life cycle and the low level of sexual dimorphism. V is dominant over U, suggesting that femaleness may be the default state, adopted when the male haplotype is absent. CONCLUSIONS The Ectocarpus UV system has clearly had a distinct evolutionary trajectory not only to the well-studied XY and ZW systems but also to the UV systems described so far. Nonetheless, some striking similarities exist, indicating remarkable universality of the underlying processes shaping sex chromosome evolution across distant lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophia Ahmed
- Integrative Biology of Marine Models, CNRS UMR 8227, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 6, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France; Medical Biology Centre, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - J Mark Cock
- Integrative Biology of Marine Models, CNRS UMR 8227, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 6, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France
| | - Eugenie Pessia
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, UMR 5558, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Lyon 1, 69622 Villeurbanne, France
| | - Remy Luthringer
- Integrative Biology of Marine Models, CNRS UMR 8227, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 6, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France
| | - Alexandre Cormier
- Integrative Biology of Marine Models, CNRS UMR 8227, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 6, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France
| | - Marine Robuchon
- Integrative Biology of Marine Models, CNRS UMR 8227, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 6, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France; Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Algae, CNRS UMI 3604, Sorbonne Université, UPMC, PUCCh, UACH, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France
| | - Lieven Sterck
- Department of Plant Systems Biology (VIB) and Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (Ghent University), Technologiepark 927, 9052 Gent, Belgium
| | | | - Simon M Dittami
- Integrative Biology of Marine Models, CNRS UMR 8227, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 6, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France
| | - Erwan Corre
- ABiMS Platform, FR2424, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France
| | - Myriam Valero
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Algae, CNRS UMI 3604, Sorbonne Université, UPMC, PUCCh, UACH, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France
| | - Jean-Marc Aury
- Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), Institut de Génomique (IG), Genoscope, 91000 Evry, France
| | - Denis Roze
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Algae, CNRS UMI 3604, Sorbonne Université, UPMC, PUCCh, UACH, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France
| | - Yves Van de Peer
- Department of Plant Systems Biology (VIB) and Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (Ghent University), Technologiepark 927, 9052 Gent, Belgium; Genomics Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Hatfield Campus, Pretoria 0028, South Africa
| | - John Bothwell
- Medical Biology Centre, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - Gabriel A B Marais
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, UMR 5558, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Lyon 1, 69622 Villeurbanne, France
| | - Susana M Coelho
- Integrative Biology of Marine Models, CNRS UMR 8227, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 6, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, 29688 Roscoff, France.
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Maintaining two mating types: structure of the mating type locus and its role in heterokaryosis in Podospora anserina. Genetics 2014; 197:421-32. [PMID: 24558260 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.113.159988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Pseudo-homothallism is a reproductive strategy elected by some fungi producing heterokaryotic sexual spores containing genetically different but sexually compatible nuclei. This lifestyle appears as a compromise between true homothallism (self-fertility with predominant inbreeding) and complete heterothallism (with exclusive outcrossing). However, pseudohomothallic species face the problem of maintaining heterokaryotic mycelia to fully benefit from this lifestyle, as homokaryons are self-sterile. Here, we report on the structure of chromosome 1 in mat+ and mat- isolates of strain S of the pseudohomothallic fungus Podospora anserina. Chromosome 1 contains either one of the mat+ and mat- mating types of P. anserina, which is mostly found in nature as a mat+/mat- heterokaryotic mycelium harboring sexually compatible nuclei. We identified a "mat" region ∼0.8 Mb long, devoid of meiotic recombination and containing the mating-type idiomorphs, which is a candidate to be involved in the maintenance of the heterokaryotic state, since the S mat+ and S mat- strains have different physiology that may enable hybrid-vigor-like phenomena in the heterokaryons. The mat region contains 229 coding sequences. A total of 687 polymorphisms were detected between the S mat+ and S mat- chromosomes. Importantly, the mat region is colinear between both chromosomes, which calls for an original mechanism of recombination inhibition. Microarray analyses revealed that 10% of the P. anserina genes have different transcriptional profiles in S mat+ and S mat-, in line with their different phenotypes. Finally, we show that the heterokaryotic state is faithfully maintained during mycelium growth of P. anserina, yet mat+/mat+ and mat-/mat- heterokaryons are as stable as mat+/mat- ones, evidencing a maintenance of heterokaryosis that does not rely on fitness-enhancing complementation between the S mat+ and S mat- strains.
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35
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Gladieux P, Ropars J, Badouin H, Branca A, Aguileta G, Vienne DM, Rodríguez de la Vega RC, Branco S, Giraud T. Fungal evolutionary genomics provides insight into the mechanisms of adaptive divergence in eukaryotes. Mol Ecol 2014; 23:753-73. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.12631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 151] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2013] [Accepted: 12/04/2013] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Gladieux
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution UMR8079 University of Paris‐Sud Orsay 91405 France
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution CNRS UMR8079 Orsay 91405 France
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology University of California Berkeley CA 94720‐3102 USA
| | - Jeanne Ropars
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution UMR8079 University of Paris‐Sud Orsay 91405 France
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution CNRS UMR8079 Orsay 91405 France
| | - Hélène Badouin
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution UMR8079 University of Paris‐Sud Orsay 91405 France
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution CNRS UMR8079 Orsay 91405 France
| | - Antoine Branca
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution UMR8079 University of Paris‐Sud Orsay 91405 France
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution CNRS UMR8079 Orsay 91405 France
| | - Gabriela Aguileta
- Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) Dr, Aiguader 88 Barcelona 08003 Spain
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) Barcelona 08003 Spain
| | - Damien M. Vienne
- Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) Dr, Aiguader 88 Barcelona 08003 Spain
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) Barcelona 08003 Spain
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive Université Lyon 1 CNRS UMR5558 Villeurbanne 69622 France
| | - Ricardo C. Rodríguez de la Vega
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution UMR8079 University of Paris‐Sud Orsay 91405 France
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution CNRS UMR8079 Orsay 91405 France
| | - Sara Branco
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology University of California Berkeley CA 94720‐3102 USA
| | - Tatiana Giraud
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution UMR8079 University of Paris‐Sud Orsay 91405 France
- Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution CNRS UMR8079 Orsay 91405 France
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Experimental hybridization and backcrossing reveal forces of reproductive isolation in Microbotryum. BMC Evol Biol 2013; 13:224. [PMID: 24112452 PMCID: PMC3853205 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2013] [Accepted: 10/08/2013] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Hybridization and reproductive isolation are central to the origin and maintenance of species, and especially for sympatric species, gene flow is often inhibited through barriers that depend upon mating compatibility factors. The anther-smut fungi (genus Microbotryum) serve as models for speciation in the face of sympatry, and previous studies have tested for but not detected assortative mating. In addition, post-mating barriers are indicated by reduced fitness of hybrids, but sources of those barriers (i.e. ecological maladaptation or genetic incompatibilities) have not yet been detected. Here, backcrossing experiments, specifically controlling for the fungal species origins of the mating compatibility factors, were used to investigate reproductive isolation in the recently-derived species Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae and Microbotryum silenes-dioicae. Results Assortative mating was detected during backcrossing and was manifested by the preferential conjugation of the hybrid-produced gametes with non-hybrid gametes containing mating compatibility factors from the same parental species. Patterns of post-mating performance supported either a level of extrinsic isolation mechanism, where backcross progeny with a higher proportion of the pathogen genome adapted to the particular host environment were favored, or an infection advantage attributed to greater genetic contribution to the hybrid from the M. lychnidis-dioicae genome. Conclusion The use of controlled backcrossing experiments reveals significant species-specific mating type effects on conjugations between recently-derived sister species, which are likely to play important roles in both maintaining species separation and the nature of hybrids lineages that emerge in sympatry between Microbotryum species.
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Species and population level molecular profiling reveals cryptic recombination and emergent asymmetry in the dimorphic mating locus of C. reinhardtii. PLoS Genet 2013; 9:e1003724. [PMID: 24009520 PMCID: PMC3757049 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2013] [Accepted: 06/28/2013] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Heteromorphic sex-determining regions or mating-type loci can contain large regions of non-recombining sequence where selection operates under different constraints than in freely recombining autosomal regions. Detailed studies of these non-recombining regions can provide insights into how genes are gained and lost, and how genetic isolation is maintained between mating haplotypes or sex chromosomes. The Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mating-type locus (MT) is a complex polygenic region characterized by sequence rearrangements and suppressed recombination between its two haplotypes, MT+ and MT−. We used new sequence information to redefine the genetic contents of MT and found repeated translocations from autosomes as well as sexually controlled expression patterns for several newly identified genes. We examined sequence diversity of MT genes from wild isolates of C. reinhardtii to investigate the impacts of recombination suppression. Our population data revealed two previously unreported types of genetic exchange in Chlamydomonas MT—gene conversion in the rearranged domains, and crossover exchanges in flanking domains—both of which contribute to maintenance of genetic homogeneity between haplotypes. To investigate the cause of blocked recombination in MT we assessed recombination rates in crosses where the parents were homozygous at MT. While normal recombination was restored in MT+×MT+ crosses, it was still suppressed in MT−×MT− crosses. These data revealed an underlying asymmetry in the two MT haplotypes and suggest that sequence rearrangements are insufficient to fully account for recombination suppression. Together our findings reveal new evolutionary dynamics for mating loci and have implications for the evolution of heteromorphic sex chromosomes and other non-recombining genomic regions. Sex chromosomes and mating-type loci are often atypical in their structure and evolutionary dynamics. One distinguishing feature is the absence of recombination that results in genetic isolation and promotes rapid evolution and sometimes degeneration. We investigated gene content, sex-regulated expression, and recombination of mating locus (MT) genes in the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Despite the lack of observable recombination in and around Chlamydomonas MT, genes from its two mating types are far more similar to each other than expected for a non-recombining region. This discrepancy is explained by our finding evidence of genetic exchange between the two mating types within wild populations. In addition, we observed an unexpected asymmetry in the recombination behavior of the two mating types that may have contributed to the preferential expansion of one MT haplotype over the other through insertion of new genes. Our data suggest a mechanism to explain the emergence of heteromorphic sex chromosomes in haploid organisms by asymmetric expansion rather than by loss or degeneration as occurs in some Y or W chromosomes from diploid organisms. Our observations support a revised view of recombination in sex-determining regions as a quantitative phenomenon that can significantly affect rates of evolution and sex-linked genetic diversification.
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