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Unisexual reproduction enhances fungal competitiveness by promoting habitat exploration via hyphal growth and sporulation.

ABSTRACT: Unisexual reproduction is a novel homothallic sexual cycle recently discovered in both ascomycetous and basidiomycetous pathogenic fungi. It is a form of selfing that induces the yeast-to-hyphal dimorphic transition in isolates of the ? mating type of the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Unisexual reproduction may benefit the pathogen by facilitating sexual reproduction in the absence of the opposite a mating type and by generating infectious propagules called basidiospores. Here, we report an independent potential selective advantage of unisexual reproduction beyond genetic exchange and recombination. We competed a wild-type strain capable of undergoing unisexual reproduction with mutants defective in this developmental pathway and found that unisexual reproduction provides a considerable dispersal advantage through hyphal growth and sporulation. Our results show that unisexual reproduction may serve to facilitate access to both nutrients and potential mating partners and may provide a means to maintain the capacity for dimorphic transitions in the environment.

SUBMITTER: Phadke SS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3754539 | biostudies-other | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Unisexual reproduction enhances fungal competitiveness by promoting habitat exploration via hyphal growth and sporulation.

Phadke Sujal S SS Feretzaki Marianna M Heitman Joseph J

Eukaryotic cell 20130621 8

Unisexual reproduction is a novel homothallic sexual cycle recently discovered in both ascomycetous and basidiomycetous pathogenic fungi. It is a form of selfing that induces the yeast-to-hyphal dimorphic transition in isolates of the α mating type of the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Unisexual reproduction may benefit the pathogen by facilitating sexual reproduction in the absence of the opposite a mating type and by generating infectious propagules called basidiospores. Here, ...[more]

PMID: 23794511

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Dataset Information

Unisexual reproduction enhances fungal competitiveness by promoting habitat exploration via hyphal growth and sporulation.

Publications

Unisexual reproduction enhances fungal competitiveness by promoting habitat exploration via hyphal growth and sporulation.

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