drive in fungal microbes: an evolutionary mystery waiting to be solved Meleah Hickman (Emory) Kirsten Nielsen (UMN) Judith Berman (TAU) Sally Otto (UBC)
Aspergillus nidulans (2N→1N) Schoustra et al., 2007 Candida albicans (1N,4N→2N) Hickman et al., 2015, Gerstein et al., 2017 Gerstein et al., 2006, Gresham et al., 2008, Voordeckers et al., 2015; Venkataram et al., 2016 Candida tropicalis (4N→2N) Seervai et al., 2013 Schizosaccharomyces pombe (2N→1N) Perrot et al., pers comm Cryptococcus neoformans (4N+→1N) Gerstein, Fu et al., 2015 Saccharomcyes cerevisiae (1N,3N,4N→2N)
albicans: < 200 generations Hickman et al., 2015 Saccharomcyes cerevisiae: < 100-1000 generations Gerstein et al., 2006, Gresham et al., 2008, Voordeckers et al., 2015; Venkataram et al., 2016 Candida tropicalis: < 300 generations Seervai et al., 2013 Cryptococcus neoformans: < 10 generations Gerstein, Fu et al., 2015 When? Within ten to a few thousand generations.
back to its baseline ploidy level - fungal genomes are labile and incredibly tolerant of karyotypic variation - role for mutation and selection: selection: rate depends on environment and genetic background mutation: diploids arise during MA at low population sizes; diversity of diploid phenotypes - suggests novel mitotic cell cycle control mechanism(s) waiting to be discovered in fungi