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Evolution of the sex-related locus and genomic features shared in microsporidia and fungi

Soo Chan Lee1, Nicolas Corradi, Sylvia Doan

  • 1Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America.

Plos One
|May 19, 2010
PubMed
Abstract

Insights

Microsporidia, fungal pathogens, share unique genomic features with fungi, supporting their classification as derived fungi. Their sex-related loci show evidence of frequent gene conversion and translocations.

Area of Science:

  • Genomics
  • Mycology
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Microsporidia are obligate intracellular eukaryotic pathogens infecting diverse animals and protists.
  • Evidence suggests a close evolutionary relationship between microsporidia and fungi, possibly as a sister group.
  • Recent studies indicate a particularly close evolutionary link between microsporidia and zygomycetes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To expand genomic analysis of microsporidia and fungi.
  • To investigate a putative sex-locus for population variability in microsporidia.
  • To clarify the evolutionary position of microsporidia within the fungal kingdom.

Main Methods:

  • Whole genome inspection for conserved and unique gene pairs/fusions.
  • Comparative analysis of gene order and architecture in sex-related loci.
  • Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of sex-related loci in Encephalitozoon species.

Main Results:

  • A unique syntenic gene pair (RPS9-RPL21) is conserved in fungi and microsporidia but absent in other eukaryotes.
  • Specific gene fusions found in other opisthokonts are unfused in fungi and microsporidia.
  • Sex-related loci in microsporidia share gene order and architecture with zygomycetes, harboring TPT, HMG, and RNA helicase genes.
  • No idiomorphic sex-related locus was found in the studied Encephalitozoon species.
  • TPT and RNA helicase genes flanking HMG genes are paralogous, not orthologous, between zygomycetes and microsporidia.

Conclusions:

  • Unique genomic hallmarks reinforce the classification of microsporidia as derived fungi, independent of sequence-based phylogenies.
  • The sex/sex-related loci in microsporidia and zygomycetes have undergone frequent gene conversion and translocations.

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