title: Both mating types in the heterothallic fungus Ophiostoma quercus contain MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 genes.
abstract: In heterothallic Ascomycota, two opposite but distinct mating types control all sexual processes. Using mating crosses, mating types were assigned to ten isolates of the heterothallic fungal species Ophiostoma quercus. Primers were subsequently designed to target the MAT1-1-1, MAT1-1-3 (of the mating type 1 idiomorph), and MAT1-2-1 (of the mating type 2 idiomorph) genes in these isolates. Results showed that all isolates contained the full gene sequence for the MAT1-2-1 gene. In addition, fragments of the MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-1-3 genes were sequenced from all isolates. These results were unexpected, as each isolate from a heterothallic species would typically contain only one of the two possible MAT idiomorphs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa. markus.wilken@fabi.up.ac.za
authors.forename: P Markus
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Wilken
authors.forename: Emma T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Steenkamp
authors.forename: Tracy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Z Wilhelm
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: De Beer
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wingfield
authors.forename: Brenda D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Wingfield
mesh_terms: D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D049770:Genes, Mating Type, Fungal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D055156:Ophiostoma / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal