DOCSLIB.ORG

Evolution of Eukaryotic Microbial Pathogens Via Covert Sexual Reproduction

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Evolution of Eukaryotic Microbial Pathogens Via Covert Sexual Reproduction View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector Cell Host & Microbe Review Evolution of Eukaryotic Microbial Pathogens via Covert Sexual Reproduction Joseph Heitman1,2,3,* 1Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology 2Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology 3Department of Medicine Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA *Correspondence: [email protected] DOI 10.1016/j.chom.2010.06.011 Sexual reproduction enables eukaryotic organisms to reassort genetic diversity and purge deleterious muta- tions, producing better-fit progeny. Sex arose early and pervades eukaryotes. Fungal and parasite pathogens once thought asexual have maintained cryptic sexual cycles, including unisexual or parasexual reproduction. As pathogens become niche and host adapted, sex appears to specialize to promote inbreeding and clonality yet maintain outcrossing potential. During self-fertile sexual modes, sex itself may generate genetic diversity de novo. Mating-type loci govern fungal sexual identity; how parasites establish sexual identity is unknown. Comparing and contrasting fungal and parasite sex promises to reveal how microbial pathogens evolved and are evolving. Introduction that promote mating, we now appreciate that a parasexual cycle How microbial pathogens evolve, develop drug resistance, and is extant (Bennett and Johnson, 2003). Recently, C. albicans was interact with the host involves both genetic change and also discovered to reproduce unisexually, illustrating a remark- exchange. In bacteria, genetic exchange occurs largely via hori- able convergence in modes of sexual reproduction in two zontal gene transfer (HGT); in the fungal and parasite eukaryotic divergent successful human fungal pathogens (Alby et al., microbial pathogens, sexual reproduction drives genetic 2009). Studies of other pathogenic Candida sp. have converged exchange. We review here how sexual identity is defined and to illustrate a marked plasticity in specification of sexual identity, modes and roles of sexual reproduction in virulence, production meiotic machinery, and the generation of aneuploid progeny with of infectious propagules, and generation of diversity. In fungi and the capacity for phenotypic diversity (Butler et al., 2009; Reedy parasites once thought asexual, genomics reveals they have et al., 2009). Finally, an extant sexual cycle was uncovered for retained machinery for sex, and laboratory studies uncovered A. fumigatus, a species previously thought to be asexual, extant sexual cycles that enable but limit genetic exchange, requiring specialized media and culture conditions (O’Gorman generating populations with clonal features. et al., 2009). Thus, rather than being asexual, pathogenic fungi In fungi, sex commonly involves two cells of opposite mating have retained cryptic, modified sexual cycles that enable both type (a, a) that secrete mating pheromones to trigger cell-cell inbreeding and outcrossing and generate diversity in novel fusion (heterothallism). Other fungi are self-fertile, and a single ways. This includes the potential of sex itself to serve as isolate can undergo sexual reproduction (homothallism). Transi- a mutagen that generates genetic diversity de novo, analogous tions between these sexual reproduction modes, outcrossing to the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans in which parasexual versus selfing/inbreeding, commonly occur throughout the reproduction generates phenotypic plasticity during experi- fungal kingdom. Recent studies of the three most common mental evolution (Schoustra et al., 2007). systemic human fungal pathogens (Cryptococcus neoformans, Our understanding of sexual reproduction in pathogenic fungi Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus) reveal novel mating parallels recent advances in defining extant sexual cycles of paradigms that differ substantially from model species like human parasite pathogens. In the protozoan Giardia, the S. cerevisiae. discovery of a novel sexual reproduction mode involving nuclear C. neoformans has an a-a opposite sex mating cycle that has fusion, meiotic gene expression, and genetic exchange illus- been defined in the laboratory for more than 30 years, and yet the trates a novel form of self-fertility, similar to unisexual mating natural population is largely unisexual, predominantly a mating of fungal pathogens (Poxleitner et al., 2008). In the protozoan type, and had therefore been thought to be asexual. Instead, parasite Leishmania, coinfections in the sand fly vector reveal a novel form of self-fertility evolved in which cells of one mating an extant capacity for genetic exchange with parallels to the type (a) can complete a unisexual cycle without an opposite C. albicans parasexual cycle (Akopyants et al., 2009). In the ki- partner, and population genetics studies suggest this may be netoplastid Trypanosoma, an extant sexual cycle involving the predominant form of sexual reproduction in nature meiosis and intraclonal and interclonal mating mirrors the out- (Bui et al., 2008; Lin et al., 2005, 2007, 2009). C. albicans was crossing/self-fertile duality of human fungal pathogens (Heitman, thought to be asexual for more than a century, but with the 2006). In Plasmodium a well-defined sexual cycle is essential for discovery of the MTL locus, isolation of a and a mating compe- vertebrate-insect transmission, and an outline for this develop- tent strains, and the discovery of genetic and host conditions mental cascade is emerging from proteomic and molecular 86 Cell Host & Microbe 8, July 22, 2010 ª2010 Elsevier Inc. Cell Host & Microbe Review Figure 1. Sex and Virulence of Fungal Ascomycete Basidiomycetes Pathogens Candida albicans Malassezia globosa Cryptococcus neoformans Ustilago maydis Four major human and plant fungal pathogens are illustrated to compare and contrast features of Human pathogen Plant pathogen sexual reproduction and links to virulence (adap- ted from Hsueh and Heitman, 2008). genetic diversity, and the a-mating type has been linked to virulence. • Obligate diploid • Haploid yeast • Haploid yeast found • Haploid yeast that only The structure and evolution of a large, commensal and commensal of human world-wide in trees, soil, infects the plant host pathogen that causes skin associated with and pigeon guano. (corn) as a filamentous complex mating type (MAT) locus that mucosal and systemic eczema and dandruff. • Plants or pigeon guano, dikaryon. governs sexual identity and promotes infections. • Conservation of MAT stimulate mating, • Mating and sexual virulence has been defined (Fraser et al., • Retains opposite-sex and mating and producing spores recently reproduction occurs only and same-sex meiotic genes shown to represent in association with the 2004). Studies have also shown that a-a parasexual cycles, and suggests sex may infectious propagules. plant and the yeast form opposite sex occurs in environmental mating can occur on occur on human skin • Opposite-sex mating has is not infectious. niches (pigeon guano, plants) and is the skin or in response and could produce been geographically to CO2/anaerobic GI novel antigens to restricted. extant in sub-Saharan Africa (Litvintseva tract conditions. provoke immune • Same-sex mating likely et al., 2003; Nielsen et al., 2007; Xue responses. occurs globally to enable et al., 2007), and document that sexually generation of diversity. produced spores are infectious (Giles et al., 2009; Velagapudi et al., 2009). Moreover, an unusual sexual mode has studies (Khan et al., 2005). Yet in all of the parasite pathogens, been discovered involving only one mating type that generates we know nothing about how their sexual identities are specified. infectious spores and diversity within unisexual populations Insights from fungal sex and MAT evolution might lay the founda- (Lin et al., 2005). tion to approach this question and suggest models by which C. neoformans mating involves two opposite haploid mating parasite sexual identity is specified. partners, a and a, which secrete pheromones that trigger cell- These studies of sex evolution and its impact throughout cell fusion (McClelland et al., 2004). The resulting dikaryon fungi and parasites illuminate paradigms for generating and harbors two congressed, unfused nuclei, and undergoes maintaining genetic diversity in microbial pathogens with impli- a dimorphic transition from budding yeast to filamentous cations for multicellular eukaryotes. Reviews on fungal sex and hyphae. The hyphae produce a specialized structure (basidia) the meiotic toolkit have recently appeared to which the inter- where nuclear fusion and meiosis occur, and repeated rounds ested reader is referred (Butler, 2010; Lee et al., 2010; Lin, of mitosis/budding decorate the basidium surface with long 2009; Morrow and Fraser, 2009; Schurko and Logsdon, 2008; spore chains. Spores are readily aerosolized, and their small Schurko et al., 2009; Sherwood and Bennett, 2009). Parallels size promotes alveolar deposition following inhalation. Similar between fungal and parasite sexual reproduction were reviewed to yeast cells, these sexually produced spores are infectious in earlier (Heitman, 2006); advances since 2006 are the focus here. murine inhalation models; unlike yeast cells, spores do not require opsonization for phagocytosis by alveolar macrophages (Giles et al., 2009; Velagapudi et al., 2009). Sex in Fungi Sexual reproduction and identity are governed by the MAT Cryptococcus neoformans locus, which
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Parasex Generates Phenotypic Diversity De Novo and Impacts Drug Resistance and Virulence in Candida Albicans
    | INVESTIGATION Parasex Generates Phenotypic Diversity de Novo and Impacts Drug Resistance and Virulence in Candida albicans Matthew P. Hirakawa, Darius E. Chyou,1 Denis Huang,1 Aaron R. Slan,1 and Richard J. Bennett2 Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7563-484X (R.J.B.) ABSTRACT Candida albicans is a diploid fungus that is a frequent cause of mucosal and systemic infections in humans. This species exhibits an unusual parasexual cycle in which mating produces tetraploid cells that undergo a nonmeiotic program of concerted chromosome loss to return to a diploid or aneuploid state. In this work, we used a multipronged approach to examine the capacity of parasex to generate diversity in C. albicans. First, we compared the phenotypic properties of 32 genotyped progeny and observed wide-ranging differences in fitness, filamentation, biofilm formation, and virulence. Strikingly, one parasexual isolate displayed in- creased virulence relative to parental strains using a Galleria mellonella model of infection, establishing that parasex has the potential to enhance pathogenic traits. Next, we examined parasexual progeny derived from homothallic, same-sex mating events, and reveal that parasex can generate diversity de novo from identical parental strains. Finally, we generated pools of parasexual progeny and examined resistance of these pools to environmental stresses. Parasexual progeny were generally less fit than control strains across most test conditions, but showed an increased ability to grow in the presence of the antifungal drug fluconazole (FL). FL-resistant progeny were aneuploid isolates, often being diploid strains trisomic for both Chr3 and Chr6.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution of Sexual Reproduction: a View from the Fungal Kingdom Supports an Evolutionary Epoch with Sex Before Sexes
    fungal biology reviews xxx (2015) 1e10 journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fbr Review Evolution of sexual reproduction: A view from the fungal kingdom supports an evolutionary epoch with sex before sexes Joseph HEITMAN* Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA article info abstract Article history: Sexual reproduction is conserved throughout each supergroup within the eukaryotic tree Received 16 February 2015 of life, and therefore thought to have evolved once and to have been present in the last eu- Received in revised form karyotic common ancestor (LECA). Given the antiquity of sex, there are features of sexual 10 June 2015 reproduction that are ancient and ancestral, and thus shared in diverse extant organisms. Accepted 17 August 2015 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 Keywords: types of sex we are familiar with involve two opposite sexes or mating types, recent studies Evolution in the fungal kingdom have revealed novel and unusual patterns of sexual reproduction, Heterothallic including unisexual reproduction. In this mode of reproduction a single mating type can Homothallic on its own undergo self-fertile/homothallic reproduction, either with itself or with other Inbreeding members of the population of the same mating type. Unisexual reproduction has arisen MAT independently as a derived feature in several different lineages. That a myriad of different Mating type types of sex determination and sex determinants abound in animals, plants, protists, and Meiosis fungi suggests that sex specification itself may not be ancestral and instead may be a Outcrossing derived trait.
    [Show full text]
  • Perspectives
    Copyright 2000 by the Genetics Society of America Perspectives Anecdotal, Historical and Critical Commentaries on Genetics Edited by James F. Crow and William F. Dove Guido Pontecorvo (ªPonteº), 1907±1999 Bernard L. Cohen IBLS Division of Molecular Genetics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G11 6NU, Scotland UIDO Pontecorvo died on September 25, 1999, and enjoy Aristophanes in Greek. During studies in the G age 91, of complications following a fall while col- Faculty of Agriculture in the University of Pisa, his inter- lecting mushrooms in his beloved Swiss mountains; he est in genetics was aroused by E. Avanzi, a plant geneti- was a signi®cant contributor to modern genetics. He cist. And in my recollection of a distant conversation, his was also an irascible yet genial friend and advisor who orientation toward agriculture resulted from working a attracted the great affection and admiration of col- relative's chicken farm when he was a teenager. Under- leagues and students worldwide and who, as head of graduate friends, among them Enrico Fermi (known department and Professor of Genetics, served the Uni- even then as ªthe Popeº because of his infallibility), were versity of Glasgow with distinction from 1945 until 1968. also in¯uential mountaineering and skiing companions. It was characteristic that in 1955, when promoted to the After two years' compulsory military service in the light newly created Chair of Genetics and also elected Fellow horse artilleryÐand somehow the image of Lieutenant of the Royal Society, he circulated a note saying that Pontecorvo exercising the commanding of®cer's horse henceforth the head of department should be known seems not at all incongruous!ÐPonte became assistant as ªPonteºÐmeaning of course no change; he was any- to Avanzi, now director of an experimental agricultural thing but pompous.
    [Show full text]
  • Genomic Evidence for Independent Loss of the Canonical Synaptonemal Complex Sarah Shah1,2,3, Yibi Chen1,2,3, Debashish Bhattacharya4 & Cheong Xin Chan1,2,3 ✉
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Sex in Symbiodiniaceae dinofagellates: genomic evidence for independent loss of the canonical synaptonemal complex Sarah Shah1,2,3, Yibi Chen1,2,3, Debashish Bhattacharya4 & Cheong Xin Chan1,2,3 ✉ Dinofagellates of the Symbiodiniaceae family encompass diverse symbionts that are critical to corals and other species living in coral reefs. It is well known that sexual reproduction enhances adaptive evolution in changing environments. Although genes related to meiotic functions were reported in Symbiodiniaceae, cytological evidence of meiosis and fertilisation are however yet to be observed in these taxa. Using transcriptome and genome data from 21 Symbiodiniaceae isolates, we studied genes that encode proteins associated with distinct stages of meiosis and syngamy. We report the absence of genes that encode main components of the synaptonemal complex (SC), a protein structure that mediates homologous chromosomal pairing and class I crossovers. This result suggests an independent loss of canonical SCs in the alveolates, that also includes the SC-lacking ciliates. We hypothesise that this loss was due in part to permanently condensed chromosomes and repeat-rich sequences in Symbiodiniaceae (and other dinofagellates) which favoured the SC-independent class II crossover pathway. Our results reveal novel insights into evolution of the meiotic molecular machinery in the ecologically important Symbiodiniaceae and in other eukaryotes. Sex is part of the life cycle of nearly all eukaryotes and has most likely been so since the last eukaryotic com- mon ancestor1. Even lineages that were traditionally thought to be asexual, such as the Amoebozoa, possess the molecular machinery required for sex2. Dinofagellates, a group of fagellated, mostly marine phytoplankton, are no exception.
    [Show full text]
  • Birds Do It, Bees Do It, but Candida Albicans Does It Differently
    Birds Do It, Bees Do It, but Candida albicans Does It Differently Richard Robinson | doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060121 The yeast Candida albicans lives an suggesting that many chromosomes do unnoticed and mostly harmless life as not harbor lethal recessive alleles, as a member of our gut flora. However, has been proposed for C. albicans. mainly in an immunocompromised Unexpectedly, the authors also host, it can proliferate and cause found evidence that, in some severe, life-threatening infections. strains, the remaining chromosomes Within this normally mild-mannered, had undergone homologous single-celled fungus beats the heart of recombination, one of the hallmarks a reproductive adventurer. For while of meiosis. C. albicans is known to it appears to be incapable of meiosis have genes that, in other organisms, and therefore true sex, it engages in an function specifically in meiosis, but no unusual and offbeat alternative—after role for them in C. albicans has been doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060121.g001 it mates, its progeny randomly cast off previously identified. The authors chromosomes to restore the diploid Configuration of the eight chromosomes showed that one such protein, Spo11p, number, or something close to it. In of Candida albicans in a recombinant strain which in other species cleaves double- a new study, Anja Forche, Richard derived from the parasexual mating cycle. stranded DNA as a prelude to meiotic Bennett, and colleagues show that this recombination, was expressed in process generates significant genetic been discovered, and its details and mitotically growing C. albicans. When diversity, which is further amplified by genetic consequences have not been the researchers deleted the gene, recombination between homologous well characterized.
    [Show full text]
  • Uniparental Nuclear Inheritance Following Bisexual Mating in Fungi Vikas Yadav, Sheng Sun, Joseph Heitman*
    RESEARCH ARTICLE Uniparental nuclear inheritance following bisexual mating in fungi Vikas Yadav, Sheng Sun, Joseph Heitman* Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, United States Abstract Some remarkable animal species require an opposite-sex partner for their sexual development but discard the partner’s genome before gamete formation, generating hemi-clonal progeny in a process called hybridogenesis. Here, we discovered a similar phenomenon, termed pseudosexual reproduction, in a basidiomycete human fungal pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans, where exclusive uniparental inheritance of nuclear genetic material was observed during bisexual reproduction. Analysis of strains expressing fluorescent reporter proteins revealed instances where only one of the parental nuclei was present in the terminal sporulating basidium. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that the nuclear genome of the progeny was identical with one or the other parental genome. Pseudosexual reproduction was also detected in natural isolate crosses where it resulted in mainly MATa progeny, a bias observed in Cryptococcus ecological distribution as well. The mitochondria in these progeny were inherited from the MATa parent, resulting in nuclear- mitochondrial genome exchange. The meiotic recombinase Dmc1 was found to be critical for pseudosexual reproduction. These findings reveal a novel, and potentially ecologically significant, mode of eukaryotic microbial reproduction that shares features with hybridogenesis in animals. Introduction
    [Show full text]
  • VOLUME V INDEX of SUBJECTS and AUTHORS Only Main Topics Are Listed, and Reference Is Given to the First Page of Each Paper in Which They Are Discussed
    VOLUME V INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS Only main topics are listed, and reference is given to the first page of each paper in which they are discussed. Affinity in Ascobolus, 20 Clayton, G. A., 410 Albumen, egg, in fowl Clines in body dimensions of Drosophila spp., linkage of two loci, 330 240 polymorphisms of, 39, 257 Cock, A. G., 354 Allan, J. S., 68 Coleman, D. L., 432 Allometry of Comb-shape, effect of, on fertility in fowl, 379 body dimensions in Drosophila spp., 240 Compatibility (S) alleles in Nicotiana, 397 femur and body lengths in Notonecta, 384 Complementation in Aspergillus, 211 Anas clypeata, see Duck Computer simulation of selection responses, Anas penelope, see Duck 68 Ancestry, effect of, on recombination in Correlations between body dimensions in Neurospora, 366 Drosophila spp., 240 Antigens, location of, in Paramecium, 137 Crawford, R. D., 379 Ascobolus immersus, non-random segregation Curnow, R. N., 341 in, 20 Cytology of Aspergillus amstelodami, parasexual cycle in, hybrid duck, 441 162 XXY mouse, 328 Aspergillus nidulans complementation of sorbitol mutants in, Dawson, G. W. P., 269, 333, 423 in, 211 Delphinium ajacis, mutation of unstable gene mitotic recombination in paba-1 cistron of, in, 423 316 Development growth at different stages of, in Drosophila, Barron, G. L., 162 107 Beale, G. EL, 85 of 'Dominant hemimelia' in mouse, 171 Beckwith, J. R., 489 Diabetes insipidus in mouse, 473 Birds, absence of dosage compensation in, 354 Dosage compensation in non-mammals, 354 Body dimensions in Drosophila spp., 240 Drosophila
    [Show full text]
  • The Mechanisms of Mating in Pathogenic Fungi—A Plastic Trait
    G C A T T A C G G C A T genes Review The Mechanisms of Mating in Pathogenic Fungi—A Plastic Trait Jane Usher Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology, Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Geoffrey Pope Building, Exeter EX4 4QD, UK; [email protected] Received: 30 August 2019; Accepted: 17 October 2019; Published: 21 October 2019 Abstract: The impact of fungi on human and plant health is an ever-increasing issue. Recent studies have estimated that human fungal infections result in an excess of one million deaths per year and plant fungal infections resulting in the loss of crop yields worth approximately 200 million per annum. Sexual reproduction in these economically important fungi has evolved in response to the environmental stresses encountered by the pathogens as a method to target DNA damage. Meiosis is integral to this process, through increasing diversity through recombination. Mating and meiosis have been extensively studied in the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, highlighting that these mechanisms have diverged even between apparently closely related species. To further examine this, this review will inspect these mechanisms in emerging important fungal pathogens, such as Candida, Aspergillus, and Cryptococcus. It shows that both sexual and asexual reproduction in these fungi demonstrate a high degree of plasticity. Keywords: mating; meiosis; genomes; MAT (mating type) locus; Candida; Aspergillus; Cryptococcus 1. Introduction There are approximately 1.5 million identified fungal species, of which a few hundred have been reported or suspected of being the causative agent of disease in humans [1]. Human fungal pathogens can cause a myriad of disease, life-threatening infections, chronic infections, and recurrent superficial infections [2].
    [Show full text]
  • Sex and Evolution in Eukaryotes - C
    REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT BIOLOGY - Sex and Evolution in Eukaryotes - C. William Birky, Jr. SEX AND EVOLUTION IN EUKARYOTES C. William Birky, Jr. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA Keywords: amphimixis, apomixis, asexual, automixis, clone, extinction, inbreeding, meiosis, mitosis, outcrossing, parasexual, parthenogenesis, recombination, selection, selfing, sexual, speciation, syngamy Contents 1. Introduction and Overview 2. Species in sexual and asexual organisms 3. Eukaryotic Life Cycles 4. Definitions and Varieties of Sexual and Asexual Reproduction 5. Parasexuality 6. Evolutionary History of Meiotic Sex 7. Genetic Consequences of Sexual and Asexual Reproduction 7.1 Effects of sex on allelic variation in species 7.2 Effects of sex on genotypic variation 7.3 Effects of sex on equilibrium genotype frequencies 8. Sex is a Quantitative Trait 9. Genes in Mitochondria and Chloroplasts are Often Asexual 10. How Can We Tell That an Organism is Asexual? 11. Sexual Reproduction is Easily Lost 12. Selection on Individuals or Species (or both) Must Favor Sex 13. Non-Genetic Advantages and Disadvantages of Sex 14. The Selective Advantages of Sex 14.1 Evolutionary advantages of amphimixis: deterministic models 14.2 Evolutionary advantages of amphimixis: stochastic models 14.3 Evolutionary advantages of segregation 14.4 How much sex is enough? 14.5 Natural selection works better with sex 15. Experimental Evidence 16. Are AncientUNESCO Asexuals Scandalous? – EOLSS Glossary Bibliography Biographical SketchSAMPLE CHAPTERS Summary Sex, in the sense of the combination of genes from two different individuals, occurs in prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes. However, sex with meiosis and syngamy (amphimixis) is limited to eukaryotes, which are the focus of this chapter.
    [Show full text]
  • Genomic Evidence for Ameiotic Evolution in the Bdelloid Rotifer Adineta Vaga
    Genomic evidence for ameiotic evolution in the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Citation Flot, Jean-François, Boris Hespeels, Xiang Li, Benjamin Noel, Irina Arkhipova, Etienne G. J. Danchin, Andreas Hejnol, et al. “Genomic Evidence for Ameiotic Evolution in the Bdelloid Rotifer Adineta Vaga.” Nature 500, no. 7463 (July 21, 2013): 453–457. As Published http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature12326 Publisher Nature Publishing Group Version Final published version Citable link http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87072 Terms of Use Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence. Detailed Terms http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ LETTER OPEN doi:10.1038/nature12326 Genomic evidence for ameiotic evolution in the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga Jean-François Flot1,2,3,4,5,6, Boris Hespeels1,2, Xiang Li1,2, Benjamin Noel3, Irina Arkhipova7, Etienne G. J. Danchin8,9,10, Andreas Hejnol11, Bernard Henrissat12, Romain Koszul13, Jean-Marc Aury3, Vale´rie Barbe3, Roxane-Marie Barthe´le´my14, Jens Bast15, Georgii A. Bazykin16,17, Olivier Chabrol14, Arnaud Couloux3, Martine Da Rocha8,9,10, Corinne Da Silva3, Eugene Gladyshev7, Philippe Gouret14, Oskar Hallatschek6,18, Bette Hecox-Lea7,19, Karine Labadie3, Benjamin Lejeune1,2, Oliver Piskurek20, Julie Poulain3, Fernando Rodriguez7, Joseph F. Ryan11, Olga A. Vakhrusheva16,17, Eric Wajnberg8,9,10, Be´ne´dicte Wirth14, Irina Yushenova7, Manolis Kellis21, Alexey S. Kondrashov16,22, David B. Mark Welch7, Pierre Pontarotti14, Jean Weissenbach3,4,5, Patrick Wincker3,4,5, Olivier Jaillon3,4,5,21* & Karine Van Doninck1,2* Loss of sexual reproduction is considered an evolutionary dead end We assembled the genome of a clonal A.
    [Show full text]
  • Homothallic Mating
    Homothallic mating A comparison of several mechanisms in yeasts Seline A. Zwarthoff Essay, January 2015 Supervisor: prof. dr. Peter J.M. Haastert Department of Cell Biochemistry Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute Abstract Although yeasts mainly reproduce asexually, many species are also able to have sex under specific conditions. In order to reproduce sexually a yeast cell usually mates with a cell of opposite mating type (heterothallism), but some species were discovered to reproduce also with cells of the same sex (homothallism). The molecular mechanisms of heterothallic reproduction have been studied well in several yeasts which revealed a number of general principles, but the homothallic reproduction strategies are less examined. The switch from heterothallic to homothallic mating in model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae differs a lot from the switch in Candida albicans, which suggests a lack of general principles. In this essay, I compare the mechanisms of heterothallic and homothallic mating in several Ascomycota and try to find similarities that can help elucidating the sexual cycles in less studied yeasts in future. Based on this comparison I suggest a classification system for the homothallic mechanisms in yeasts. 2 Biologie – Annie M.G. Schmidt "Oh juffrouw Beekman, was u maar ééncellig Dan kon de liefde u niet zo veel schelen Dan zoudt u zich gewoon in tweeën delen Ik geef wel toe: het is niet zo gezellig Maar heel erg praktisch. Zo'n ééncellig wezen Hoeft nooit een ander wezen te aanbidden; Het deelt zich op een dag pardoes doormidden. U kunt dat immers in de boeken lezen. Terwijl u met u veertienbiljoen cellen Zo treurig in de lunchroom zit te wachten O, juffrouw Beekman 't is al over achten Hij komt niet meer.
    [Show full text]
  • Atypical Ploidy Cycles, Spo11, and the Evolution of Meiosis
    Accepted Manuscript Title: Atypical ploidy cycles, Spo11, and the evolution of meiosis Author: Gareth Bloomfield PII: S1084-9521(16)30026-X DOI: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2016.01.026 Reference: YSCDB 1937 To appear in: Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology Received date: 4-12-2015 Accepted date: 20-1-2016 Please cite this article as: Bloomfield Gareth.Atypical ploidy cycles, Spo11, and the evolution of meiosis.Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2016.01.026 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Atypical ploidy cycles, Spo11, and the evolution of meiosis Gareth Bloomfield*[email protected] MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, United Kingdom *Corresponding author. Abstract The Spo11 protein induces DNA double strand breaks before the first division of meiosis, enabling the formation of the chiasmata that physically link homologous chromosomes as they align. Spo11 is an ancient and well conserved protein, related in sequence and structure to a DNA topoisomerase subunit found in Archaea as well as a subset of eukaryotes. However the origins of its meiotic function are unclear.
    [Show full text]