Unknown

Dataset Information

0

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

altmetric image

Publications

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]

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC4791110 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC8163874 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6637910 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC8748795 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC11230112 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC8593669 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC8654418 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC25223 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC10581180 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC11335202 | biostudies-literature