bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/230292; this version posted December 7, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Title Understanding the evolution of anisogamy in the early diverging fungus, Allomyces Short Title Allomyces transcriptome Authors Sujal S. Phadke1,a,b, Shawn M. Rupp2,a, Melissa A. Wilson Sayres2,3,4,a,b Affiliations 1. Microbial and Environmental Genomics Group, J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA 2. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 3. Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 4. Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ a. These authors contributed eQually to the manuscript. b. Authors to whom correspondence can be directed: SSP:
[email protected]; MAWS:
[email protected] bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/230292; this version posted December 7, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Abstract Gamete size dimorphism between sexes (anisogamy) is predicted to have evolved from isogamous system in which sexes have eQual-sized, monomorphic gametes. Although adaptive explanations for the evolution of anisogamy abound, we lack comparable insights into molecular changes that bring about the transition from monomorphism to dimorphism. The basal fungal clade Allomyces provides uniQue opportunities to investigate genomic changes that are associated with this transition in closely related species that show either isogamous or anisogamous mating systems.