title: Latent homology and convergent regulatory evolution underlies the repeated emergence of yeasts.
abstract: Convergent evolution is common throughout the tree of life, but the molecular mechanisms causing similar phenotypes to appear repeatedly are obscure. Yeasts have arisen in multiple fungal clades, but the genetic causes and consequences of their evolutionary origins are unknown. Here we show that the potential to develop yeast forms arose early in fungal evolution and became dominant independently in multiple clades, most likely via parallel diversification of Zn-cluster transcription factors, a fungal-specific family involved in regulating yeast-filamentous switches. Our results imply that convergent evolution can happen by the repeated deployment of a conserved genetic toolkit for the same function in distinct clades via regulatory evolution. We suggest that this mechanism might be a common source of evolutionary convergence even at large time scales.
authors.affiliation: Clark University, Biology Department, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610, USA.
authors.forename: László G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.affiliation: U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Robin A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Ohm
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Plant Anatomy, Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest H-1117, Hungary [2] Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest H-1525, Hungary.
authors.forename: Gábor M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Kovács
authors.affiliation: Clark University, Biology Department, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610, USA.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Floudas
authors.affiliation: U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Szeged, Szeged H-6726, Hungary.
authors.forename: Attila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gácser
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Debrecen, Debrecen H-4010, Hungary.
authors.forename: Mátyás
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sipiczki
authors.affiliation: School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, College of the Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Sharon L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Doty
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: G Sybren
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: de Hoog
authors.affiliation: Département de Biochimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7.
authors.forename: B Franz
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Spatafora
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR 1136, INRA-Nancy Université, Interactions Arbres/Microorganismes, 54280 Champenoux, France.
authors.forename: Francis M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Igor V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Grigoriev
authors.affiliation: Clark University, Biology Department, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610, USA.
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Hibbett
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020440:Gene Duplication; D016681:Genome, Fungal; D010802:Phylogeny; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D015003:Yeasts / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors