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Variation in mate-recognition pheromones of the fungal genus Microbotryum

L Xu1, E Petit1, M E Hood1

  • 1Department of Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, USA.

Heredity
|August 27, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Fungal mating pheromones are functional across species, but response strength varies, not correlating with genetic distance. Different selection pressures act on mating recognition systems, impacting species boundaries.

Area of Science:

  • Mycology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Mate recognition is crucial for species integrity, with mating signals diversifying to maintain boundaries.
  • Fungal mating systems, based on pheromone-receptor interactions, offer simple models for studying signal evolution, but patterns remain unclear.
  • Previous studies in fungi are limited compared to plant and animal systems.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize fungal pheromones in Microbotryum species and assess their cross-species functionality.
  • To investigate the relationship between genetic distance and mating response strength.
  • To analyze the evolutionary pressures on interacting mating recognition components.

Main Methods:

  • Candidate loci from Microbotryum species were used to identify and synthesize putative pheromones.
  • In vitro experiments were conducted to test the functionality of synthesized pheromones across different species.
  • Gene sequence comparisons and analysis of purifying selection were performed on pheromone peptides and their receptors.

Main Results:

  • Synthesized pheromones triggered mating responses in vitro across multiple Microbotryum species.
  • No significant correlation was found between response strength and genetic distance to the pheromone source.
  • The a1 pheromone-receptor system showed strong purifying selection, while the a2 system exhibited less selection and more receptor variation.

Conclusions:

  • Fungal pheromones can be functional across species, with response variation potentially influenced by environmental or developmental factors.
  • Different evolutionary constraints act on the two mating types within the Microbotryum recognition system.
  • This study highlights an exceptional case of differential selection in a reciprocal mate-recognition system.

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