Experimental demonstration of the benefits of somatic fusion and the consequences for allorecognition

Bastiaans, Eric; Debets, A.J.M.; Aanen, Duur K.

doi:10.1111/evo.12626

Cited by 40 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In contrast, non-merged spores would form individual mycelia competing for these goods. Consistent with these theoretical considerations, the ability to undergo germling fusion correlates with increased fitness and competitiveness of N. crassa colonies [17,18]. This form of collaboration is, however, restricted to the early stages of colony development and does not take place between mature, established mycelia [19].…”

Section: Germling Fusionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Signal exchange and integration during self-fusion in filamentous fungi

Fleißner

Herzog

2016

Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology

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Section: Germling Fusionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Signal exchange and integration during self-fusion in filamentous fungi

Fleißner

Herzog

2016

Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology

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“…While cell fusion remains a relatively rare event restricted to particular cell types in animals, it constitutes a defining feature of the lifestyle of most filamentous fungi and slime moulds. In these organisms, cell fusion enhances foraging success [6,7] and provides the potential for cell assistance through resource sharing [8][9][10][11]. Here, using the unicellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum as a model system, we report a new feature of cell fusion never described before: the transmission of learned behaviour from one cell to another.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Direct transfer of learned behaviour via cell fusion in non-neural organisms

Vogel

Dussutour

2016

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Cell fusion is a fundamental phenomenon observed in all eukaryotes. Cells can exchange resources such as molecules or organelles during fusion. In this paper, we ask whether a cell can also transfer an adaptive response to a fusion partner. We addressed this question in the unicellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum, in which cell-cell fusion is extremely common. Slime moulds are capable of habituation, a simple form of learning, when repeatedly exposed to an innocuous repellent, despite lacking neurons and comprising only a single cell. In this paper, we present a set of experiments demonstrating that slime moulds habituated to a repellent can transfer this adaptive response by cell fusion to individuals that have never encountered the repellent. In addition, we show that a slime mould resulting from the fusion of a minority of habituated slime moulds and a majority of unhabituated ones still shows an adaptive response to the repellent. Finally, we further reveal that fusion must last a certain time to ensure an effective transfer of the behavioural adaptation between slime moulds. Our results provide strong experimental evidence that slime moulds exhibit transfer of learned behaviour during cell fusion and raise the possibility that similar phenomena may occur in other cell-cell fusion systems.

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“…We predict that the function of both HAM-5 and HAM-14 in fusion and colony development will be conserved in a wide range of filamentous ascomycete fungi. Cell fusion and the ability to form a syncytium provides a fungal colony with many advantages ranging from improved fitness and enhanced ability to adapt to the environment, in addition to mixing of genetic material and cellular components (Richard et al 2012;Roper et al 2013;Bastiaans et al 2015). Also, for some plant pathogenic fungi, the ability to fuse affects the ability to form an infection network or is a prerequisite to infect their host (Craven et al 2008;Prados Rosales and Di Pietro 2008;Guo et al 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

Chemotropism and Cell Fusion in Neurospora crassa Relies on the Formation of Distinct Protein Complexes by HAM-5 and a Novel Protein HAM-14

et al. 2016

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In filamentous fungi, communication is essential for the formation of an interconnected, multinucleate, syncytial network, which is constructed via hyphal fusion or fusion of germinated asexual spores (germlings). Anastomosis in filamentous fungi is comparable to other somatic cell fusion events resulting in syncytia, including myoblast fusion during muscle differentiation, macrophage fusion, and fusion of trophoblasts during placental development. In Neurospora crassa, fusion of genetically identical germlings is a highly dynamic and regulated process that requires components of a MAP kinase signal transduction pathway. The kinase pathway components (NRC-1, MEK-2 and MAK-2) and the scaffold protein HAM-5 are recruited to hyphae and germling tips undergoing chemotropic interactions. The MAK-2/HAM-5 protein complex shows dynamic oscillation to hyphae/germling tips during chemotropic interactions, and which is out-of-phase to the dynamic localization of SOFT, which is a scaffold protein for components of the cell wall integrity MAP kinase pathway. In this study, we functionally characterize HAM-5 by generating ham-5 truncation constructs and show that the N-terminal half of HAM-5 was essential for function. This region is required for MAK-2 and MEK-2 interaction and for correct cellular localization of HAM-5 to "fusion puncta." The localization of HAM-5 to puncta was not perturbed in 21 different fusion mutants, nor did these puncta colocalize with components of the secretory pathway. We also identified HAM-14 as a novel member of the HAM-5/MAK-2 pathway by mining MAK-2 phosphoproteomics data. HAM-14 was essential for germling fusion, but not for hyphal fusion. Colocalization and coimmunoprecipitation data indicate that HAM-14 interacts with MAK-2 and MEK-2 and may be involved in recruiting MAK-2 (and MEK-2) to complexes containing HAM-5.KEYWORDS cell fusion; Neurospora crassa; MAP kinase signaling; protein complexes; chemotropism F USION between genetically identical cells exists in many organisms and plays an important role in different developmental processes, for example, myoblast fusion during the formation of muscle tissue, macrophage fusion, or fusion of trophoblasts in placental development (Chen and Olson 2005;Aguilar et al. 2013). In fungi, vegetative fusion enables a fungal colony to share resources and has implications for fitness and virulence (Craven et al. 2008;Fricker et al. 2009;Eaton et al. 2011;Richard et al. 2012;Simonin et al. 2012;Roper et al. 2013;Chagnon 2014). In the filamentous ascomycete fungus, Neurospora crassa, genetically identical germinated asexual spores (germlings) undergo fusion to form a syncytium that is an interconnected network of fused cells Leeder et al. 2013;Herzog et al. 2015). An important pathway required for both germling and hyphal fusion is a conserved mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade that includes the MAPK kinase kinase NRC-1, the MAPK kinase MEK-2, the MAPK MAK-2, and the scaffold protein, HAM-5 (Pandey et al. 2004;Dettmann et al. 2012Dettm...

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Experimental demonstration of the benefits of somatic fusion and the consequences for allorecognition

Cited by 40 publications

References 47 publications

Signal exchange and integration during self-fusion in filamentous fungi

Signal exchange and integration during self-fusion in filamentous fungi

Direct transfer of learned behaviour via cell fusion in non-neural organisms

Chemotropism and Cell Fusion in Neurospora crassa Relies on the Formation of Distinct Protein Complexes by HAM-5 and a Novel Protein HAM-14

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