Ben Auxier, Jianhua Zhang, Francisca Reyes Marquez, Kira Senden, Joost van den Heuvel, Duur K Aanen, Eveline Snelders, Alfons J M Debets
In fungi, fusion between individuals leads to localized cell death, a phenomenon termed heterokaryon incompatibility. Generally, the genes responsible for this incompatibility are observed to be under balancing selection resulting from negative frequency-dependent selection. Here, we assess this phenomenon in Aspergillus fumigatus, a human pathogenic fungus with a very low level of linkage disequilibrium as well as an extremely high crossover rate. Using complementation of auxotrophic mutations as an assay for hyphal compatibility, we screened sexual progeny for compatibility to identify genes involved in this process, called het genes...
April 23, 2024: Molecular Biology and Evolution