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1 Running Hot and Cold: Recombination Around and Within Mating-Type Loci of Fungi and Other Eukaryotes

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Environmental and Microbial Relationships

Part of the book series: The Mycota ((MYCOTA,volume IV))

Abstract

Recombination, both crossover and gene conversion, plays fundamental roles in evolution by generating novel allele combinations, as well as by increasing the genetic diversity and facilitating natural selection. In many fungal species, recombination is also critical for sex (mating-type) determination and sexual development, and the evolution of the mating-type locus (MAT) is likely strongly influenced by recombination (or lack thereof). On the other hand, in some fungal species, the presence of a mating-type locus on a chromosome can affect its recombinational landscape. Additionally, while in some cases the MAT locus is associated with repressed crossing-over within, there are also examples where recombination hot spots are present within or in the proximity of the MAT locus. Given the diverse mating systems and mating-type determination mechanisms in different species, fungi as well as other microbial eukaryotes provide rich resources to study the effects of recombination on mechanisms of sex determination and sexual development, as well as the evolution of sex determination systems and sex chromosomes in general.

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Acknowledgment

We thank Blake Billmyre and Anna Floyd Averette for their comments during the preparation of the manuscript. This work is supported by NIH/NIAID R37 award AI39115-18 and RO1 grant AI50113-12 to J.H.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Sheng Sun

  2. Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3546, 322 CARL Building, Research Drive, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Joseph Heitman

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  1. Sheng Sun
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Correspondence to Joseph Heitman .

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  1. Institute of Chemical Engineering, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria

    Irina S. Druzhinina

  2. Institute of Chemical Engineering, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria

    Christian P. Kubicek

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Sun, S., Heitman, J. (2016). 1 Running Hot and Cold: Recombination Around and Within Mating-Type Loci of Fungi and Other Eukaryotes. In: Druzhinina, I., Kubicek, C. (eds) Environmental and Microbial Relationships. The Mycota, vol IV. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29532-9_1

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