Evolutionary Process in Fungal Mating-Type Genes

9514008五月真菌是地球上最多样化的生物群之一，但人们对产生和维持这种多样性的过程知之甚少。此外，真菌的遗传多样性使它们能够快速进化出新的致病类型，以应对作物育种和医疗实践的进步。在本项目中，我们对鸡腿菇的生殖生物学进行了研究，以确定控制交配亲和性的一个重要基因上的进化力。与只有两种相容类型的动物不同，华支睾吸虫有很多种类型，任何两种类型都是相容的。交配型基因的多样性及其极端水平的DNA序列变异使它们成为了解作用于蛋白质编码基因的进化力量的极佳系统。观察到的序列分集模式将与理论模型预测的模式进行比较。这些结果将有助于维持许多重要的高变异基因的遗传多样性，如植物的交配亲和性基因和动物的组织亲和性基因。

9514008 MAY Fungi are one of the most diverse groups of organisms on earth yet little is known about the processes that generate and maintain this diversity. Moreover, the genetic diversity of fungi allows them to evolve new pathogenic types quickly in response to advances in crop breeding and medical practices. In this project, the reproductive biology of Coprinus cinereus is studied to determine the evolutionary forces acting on one important gene, which controls mating compatibility. Unlike animals with just two compatible types, C. cinereus has many and any two types are compatible. The diversity of mating-type genes along with their extreme levels of DNA sequence variation make them an excellent system for understanding the evolutionary forces acting on protein-coding genes. The observed patterns of sequence diversity will be compared with those predicted by theoretical models. The results will shed light on the maintenance of genetic diversity in many important highly variable genes such as mating compatibility genes in plants and histocompatibility genes in animals.