Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.
Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.
Fungal Genet Biol. 2018 May;114:24-33. doi: 10.1016/j.fgb.2018.03.003. Epub 2018 Mar 9.
Little is known regarding mating strategies in the Botryosphaeriaceae. To understand sexual reproduction in this fungal family, the mating type genes of Botryosphaeria dothidea and Macrophomina phaseolina, as well as several species of Diplodia, Lasiodiplodia and Neofusicoccum were characterized from whole genome assemblies. Comparisons between the mating type loci of these fungi showed that the mating type genes are highly variable, but in most cases the organization of these genes is conserved. Of the species considered, nine were homothallic and seven were heterothallic. Mating type gene fragments were discovered flanking the mating type regions, which indicates both ongoing and ancestral recombination occurring within the mating type region. Ancestral reconstruction analysis further indicated that heterothallism is the ancestral state in the Botryosphaeriaceae and this is supported by the presence of mating type gene fragments in homothallic species. The results also show that at least five transitions from heterothallism to homothallism have taken place in the Botryosphaeriaceae. The study provides a foundation for comparison of mating type evolution between Botryosphaeriaceae and other fungi and also provides valuable markers for population biology studies in this family.
关于 Botryosphaeriaceae 中的交配策略知之甚少。为了了解该真菌科的有性繁殖，从全基因组组装中表征了 Botryosphaeria dothidea 和 Macrophomina phaseolina 以及一些 Diplodia、Lasiodiplodia 和 Neofusicoccum 物种的交配型基因。对这些真菌的交配型基因座的比较表明，交配型基因高度可变，但在大多数情况下，这些基因的组织是保守的。在所考虑的物种中，有九个是同宗配合的，七个是异宗配合的。在交配型区域侧翼发现了交配型基因片段，这表明在交配型区域中正在发生和祖先重组。祖先重建分析进一步表明，异宗配合是 Botryosphaeriaceae 的原始状态，这也得到了同宗配合物种中存在交配型基因片段的支持。研究结果还表明，Botryosphaeriaceae 中至少发生了五次从异宗配合到同宗配合的转变。该研究为比较 Botryosphaeriaceae 和其他真菌的交配型进化提供了基础，也为该科的种群生物学研究提供了有价值的标记。
