It’s All in the Genes: The Regulatory Pathways of Sexual Reproduction in Filamentous Ascomycetes

Abstract

Sexual reproduction in filamentous ascomycete fungi results in the production of highly specialized sexual tissues, which arise from relatively simple, vegetative mycelia. This conversion takes place after the recognition of and response to a variety of exogenous and endogenous cues, and relies on very strictly regulated gene, protein, and metabolite pathways. This makes studying sexual development in fungi an interesting tool in which to study gene–gene, gene–protein, and protein–metabolite interactions. This review provides an overview of some of the most important genes involved in this process; from those involved in the conversion of mycelia into sexually-competent tissue, to those involved in the development of the ascomata, the asci, and ultimately, the ascospores.

Recombination suppression and evolutionary strata around mating‐type loci in fungi: documenting patterns and understanding evolutionary and mechanistic causes

“…Other examples include the model fungi Neurospora crassa, Magnaporthe oryzae, Coccidioides spp., Cordyceps spp., Fusarium spp. and Melampsora larici‐populina (Persoons et al ., 2014; Wilken et al ., 2017; Wilson et al ., 2019). The occurrence of various mating‐type specific (i.e.…”

“…These mating-type specific genes often are shared by whole clades, indicating ancient recombination suppression (Wilken et al, 2017;Wilson et al, 2019), but different genes have been incorporated at the mating-type locus* in different fungal clades. In Leotiomycetes for example, a gene encoding a metallothionein protein without known role in mating is found in a single mating type (Wilken et al, 2017;Wilson et al, 2019). Other examples include the model fungi Neurospora crassa, Magnaporthe New Phytologist (2021) 229: 2470-2491 Ó 2020 The Authors New Phytologist Ó 2020 New Phytologist Foundation www.newphytologist.com oryzae, Coccidioides spp., Cordyceps spp., Fusarium spp.…”

Integrative Activity of Mating Loci, Environmentally Responsive Genes, and Secondary Metabolism Pathways during Sexual Development of Chaetomium globosum

“…Mating-type loci behave in a highly coordinated fashion through the whole sexual reproduction process in self-compatible C. globosum, and high coordination was also observed for pheromone receptors and precursors (91). Sordaria macrospora—a species closely related to N.…”

The Mechanisms of Mating in Pathogenic Fungi—A Plastic Trait

“…Generally, the expression of pheromone and pheromone-receptor genes is regulated by the MAT-encoded transcription factors [54,55]. In C. albicans the mating type-lie ( MTL ) locus has undergone expansion since its diversion from the related model yeast S. cerevisiae [25,53,56,57,58,59].…”