Ribosomal DNA variation, recombination and inheritance in the basidiomycete Trichaptum abietinum: implications for...

Two divergent nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) types, designated alpha and beta, were found distributed in 11 North European populations of the basidiomycete Trichaptum abietinum. These types differed by a 220 bp indel in the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) sequence and a number of linked substitutions and small indel motives in the internal transcribed and intergenic spacers (ITS1, ITS2, IGS1 and IGS2). The alpha and beta haplotypes co-occurred in heterozygous somatic individuals (dikaryons) and segregated in a Mendelian fashion in monokaryotic single spore progenies. This result suggests that the haplotypes are encoded in different nuclei of field-collected dikaryons and inherited as a single locus. No meiotic recombinants were observed among the sequenced monokaryons. Population genetic analyses by PCR-RFLP revealed that a low frequency of evolutionary intermediate nrDNA types also existed in natural populations, presumably as a result of meiotic recombination of alpha and beta nrDNA. The existence of divergent nrDNA types in T. abietinum could be a result of a former independent evolution followed by a hybridization event. Phylogenetic analyses of ITS sequences suggest that the sister taxon T. fusco-violaceum has been involved in the evolutionary history of T. abietinum. Sequence polymorphisms observed in the translation elongation factor 1alpha (efa) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gpd) genes, did not reveal two well-defined types of these genes. The results are discussed in the light of other evolutionary mechanisms as well.