Dissertation Research: The Evolution of the A Mating Type Genes in the Mushroom Fungi.

[00:50 . 31]本研究的重点是蘑菇形成真菌繁殖的遗传基础。基因将通过一种称为“位置克隆”的方法从几个蘑菇物种中分离出来。由于交配型基因的高度可变性，这些基因不能用标准方案分离或克隆。作为一种替代策略，位置克隆利用了染色体上邻近目标基因的保护。这项技术将应用于分离平菇和其他蘑菇物种中控制交配的基因，这些蘑菇代表了不同寻常的育种系统。最后，本研究将确定定位克隆策略是否可以成功地应用于从不同的蘑菇亚群中分离交配基因。蘑菇是非典型的，因为这些真菌的自然种群可以包含许多性别，称为交配类型。与通过性染色体决定性别的动物和许多植物不同，蘑菇通过单个基因位点的变异实现多性别。控制蘑菇交配型的基因已经被分离出来，交配型蛋白的功能也已经很清楚。然而，真菌的交配类型只在两个物种中被研究过。由于蘑菇真菌在繁殖方式上有很大的差异，因此扩大交配型基因如何发挥作用的知识来代表这一生态重要生物群体的多样性是很重要的。

0105031 Vilgalys This research focuses on the genetic basis for reproduction in mushroom-forming fungi. Genes will be isolated from several mushroom species through a method termed "positional cloning". Because of the hyper-variability of mating-type genes, these genes cannot be isolated or cloned using standard protocols. As an alternative strategy, positional cloning utilizes the conservation of genes adjacent on the chromosome to the target genes. This technique will be applied to isolating the genes controlling mating in oyster mushrooms as well other mushroom species that represent unusual breeding systems. Finally, the proposed research will determine whether the positional cloning strategy can be successfully applied to isolating mating genes from the various and diverse subgroups of mushrooms. Mushrooms are atypical because natural populations of these fungi can contain numerous sexes, called mating-types. Unlike animals and many plants that determine sexes through sex chromosomes, mushrooms achieve multiple sexes through variation at a single genetic locus. The genes controlling mating-type in mushrooms have been isolated and the function of the mating-type proteins is well known. However, mating-type in fungi has been studied only in two species. Because of the great amount of variation in reproductive mode among the mushroom fungi, it is important to expand the knowledge of how mating type genes function to represent the diversity of this ecologically important group of organisms.