Clonality Despite Sex: The Evolution of Host-Associated Sexual Neighborhoods in the Pathogenic Fungus Penicillium marneffei

PLoS Pathogens

Kylie J. Boyce¹  Alex Andrianopoulos¹  Daniel A. Henk²  Matthew C. Fisher²  Revital Shahar-Golan²  Nongnuch Vanittanakom³  Elaine M. Bignell⁴  Kwok-Yung Yuen⁵  Po-Ren Hsueh⁶  Khuraijam Ranjana Devi⁷  Tran P. M. Sieu⁸  Nguyen Van Kinh⁹  Heiman Wertheim^1,10  Jeremy N. Day^1,11  Stephen G. Baker^1,11  William C. Nierman^1,12  Natalie D. Fedorova^1,12  Nengyong Zhan^1,13 

[1] Department of Genetics, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia;Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College, Norfolk Place, London, United Kingdom;Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand;Department of Microbiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom;Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong;Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China;Departments of Microbiology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, Manipur, India;Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam;National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ha Noi, Viet Nam;Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Program Viet Nam National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ha Noi, Viet Nam;Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme Viet Nam Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam;The J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America;The Third People's Hospital, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China

关键词: Penicillium marneffei;    DNA recombination;    Population genetics;    Fungal genetics;    Fungal pathogens;    Fungi;    Fungal genomics;    Fungal structure;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1002851

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Molecular genetic approaches typically detect recombination in microbes regardless of assumed asexuality. However, genetic data have shown the AIDS-associated pathogen Penicillium marneffei to have extensive spatial genetic structure at local and regional scales, and although there has been some genetic evidence that a sexual cycle is possible, this haploid fungus is thought to be genetically, as well as morphologically, asexual in nature because of its highly clonal population structure. Here we use comparative genomics, experimental mixed-genotype infections, and population genetic data to elucidate the role of recombination in natural populations of P. marneffei. Genome wide comparisons reveal that all the genes required for meiosis are present in P. marneffei, mating type genes are arranged in a similar manner to that found in other heterothallic fungi, and there is evidence of a putatively meiosis-specific mutational process. Experiments suggest that recombination between isolates of compatible mating types may occur during mammal infection. Population genetic data from 34 isolates from bamboo rats in India, Thailand and Vietnam, and 273 isolates from humans in China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam show that recombination is most likely to occur across spatially and genetically limited distances in natural populations resulting in highly clonal population structure yet sexually reproducing populations. Predicted distributions of three different spatial genetic clusters within P. marneffei overlap with three different bamboo rat host distributions suggesting that recombination within hosts may act to maintain population barriers within P. marneffei.

【 授权许可】

CC BY