title: Dikaryotic cell cycle in the phytopathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis is controlled by the DNA damage response cascade.
abstract: In a large group of fungi, mating results in a dikaryon, a cell in which the two nuclei--one from each parent cell--share a single cytoplasm for a period of time without undergoing nuclear fusion. The dikaryon stage is typical in the life cycles of many fungal species primarily in the Basidiomycota, a large group that includes mushrooms, bracket fungi and many phytopathogenic fungi, such as the corn pathogen Ustilago maydis. Recently, we described that in U. maydis two conserved DNA-damage checkpoint kinases, Chk1 and Atr1, work together to control the dikaryon formation. However, how this pathway is activated during the dikaryon formation and how its activation/deactivation is coordinated with the different cell cycle phases is unknown. Here we propose and discuss several hypothesis to address these questions.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biotecnología Microbiana, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología CSIC, Madrid, Spain. jperez@cnb.csic.es
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pérez-Martín
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Sena-Tomás
mesh_terms: D002453:Cell Cycle; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D004249:DNA Damage; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D014588:Ustilago / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors