Deletion of the sex-determining gene SXI1α enhances the spread of mitochondrial introns in Cryptococcus neoformans

Mobile DNA
Zhun YanJianping Xu

Abstract

Homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) are widely distributed genetic elements in the mitochondrial genomes of a diversity of eukaryotes. Due to their ability to self-propagate within and between genomes, these elements can spread rapidly in populations. Whether and how such elements are controlled in genomes remains largely unknown. Here we report that the HEG-containing introns in the mitochondrial COX1 gene in Cryptococcus neoformans are mobile and that their spread in sexual crosses is influenced by mating type (MAT) α-specific homeodomain gene SXI1α. C. neoformans has two mating types, MATa and MATα . In typical crosses between strains of the two mating types, only a small portion (< 7%) of diploid fusants inherited the HEGs from the MATα parent. However, disruption of the SXI1α gene resulted in the majority (> 95%) of the diploid fusants inheriting the HEG-containing introns from the MATα parent, a frequency significantly higher than those of intronless mitochondrial genes. Our results suggest that SXI1α not only determines uniparental mitochondrial inheritance but also inhibits the spread of HEG-containing introns in the mitochondrial genome in C. neoformans.

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Citations

Sep 14, 2018·Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology·Sarah SandorJianping Xu
May 7, 2020·Frontiers in Microbiology·Yue Wang, Jianping Xu
Jun 4, 2020·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Hector MendozaJan Schirawski
Feb 11, 2021·Canadian Journal of Microbiology·Alvan Wai, Georg Hausner
Aug 28, 2021·Cells·Jigeesha Mukhopadhyay, Georg Hausner

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
NC004336

Methods Mentioned

BETA
phosphotransferase
genotyping
PCR

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