title: Multiple genes encoding pheromones and a pheromone receptor define the B beta 1 mating-type specificity in Schizophyllum commune.
abstract: The genes defining multiple B mating types in the wood-rotting mushroom Schizophyllum commune are predicted to encode multiple pheromones and pheromone receptors. These genes are clustered in each of two recombinable and independently functioning loci, B alpha and B beta. A difference in specificity at either locus between a mated pair of individuals initiates an identical series of events in sexual morphogenesis. The B alpha 1 locus was recently found to contain genes predicted to encode three lipopeptide pheromones and a pheromone receptor with a seven-transmembrane domain. These gene products interact in hetero-specific pairs, the pheromone of one B alpha specificity with the receptor of any one of the other eight B alpha specificities, and are likely to activate a signaling cascade similar to that known for mating in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We report here that the B beta 1 locus also contains at least three pheromone genes and one pheromone receptor gene, which function similarly to the genes in the B alpha 1 locus, but only within the series of B beta specificities. A comparison of the DNA sequences of the B alpha 1 and B beta 1 loci suggests that each arose from a common ancestral sequence, allowing us to speculate about the evolution of this unique series of regulatory genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, L. P. Markey Center for Molecular Genetics, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405, USA.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Vaillancourt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raudaskoski
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Specht
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Raper
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D049770:Genes, Mating Type, Fungal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010675:Pheromones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012567:Schizophyllum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014170:Transformation, Genetic; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones; D012333:RNA, Messenger