recombination hotspots flank the cryptococcus mating-type locus implications for the evolution of a fungal sex chromosome重组热点侧面的隐球菌接合型轨迹对真菌的进化性染色体的影响.pdfVIP

Recombination Hotspots Flank the Cryptococcus Mating-Type Locus: Implications for the Evolution of a Fungal Sex Chromosome * Yen-Ping Hsueh, Alexander Idnurm, Joseph Heitman Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America Recombination increases dramatically during meiosis to promote genetic exchange and generate recombinant progeny. Interestingly, meiotic recombination is unevenly distributed throughout genomes, and, as a consequence, genetic and physical map distances do not have a simple linear relationship. Recombination hotspots and coldspots have been described in many organisms and often reflect global features of chromosome structure. In particular, recombination frequencies are often distorted within or outside sex-determining regions of the genome. Here, we report that recombination is elevated adjacent to the mating-type locus (MAT) in the pathogenic basidiomycete Cryptococcus neoformans. Among fungi, C. neoformans has an unusually large MAT locus, and recombination is suppressed between the two .100-kilobase mating-type specific alleles. When genetic markers were introduced at defined physical distances from MAT, we found the meiotic recombination frequency to be ;20% between MAT and a flanking marker at 5, 10, 50, or 100 kilobases from the right border. As a result, the physical/genetic map ratio in the regions adjacent to MAT is distorted ;10- to 50-fold compared to the genome-wide average. Moreover, recombination frequently occurred on both sides of MAT and negative interference between crossovers was observed. MAT heterozygosity was not required for enhanced recombination, implying that this pr