title: Homothallism: an umbrella term for describing diverse sexual behaviours.
abstract: Sexual reproduction is notoriously complex in fungi with species able to produce sexual progeny by utilizing a variety of different mechanisms. This is even more so for species employing multiple sexual strategies, which is a surprisingly common occurrence. While heterothallism is relatively well understood in terms of its physiological and molecular underpinnings, homothallism remains greatly understudied. This can be attributed to it involving numerous genetically distinct mechanisms that all result in self-fertility; including primary homothallism, pseudohomothallism, mating type switching, and unisexual reproduction. This review highlights the need to classify these homothallic mechanisms based on their molecular determinants and illustrates what is currently known about the multifaceted behaviours associated with homothallism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa, 0028;
authors.forename: Andrea M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa, 0028;
authors.forename: P Markus
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Wilken
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa, 0028;
authors.forename: Magriet A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van der Nest
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa.
authors.forename: Emma T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Steenkamp
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa, 0028;
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wingfield
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa, 0028;
authors.forename: Brenda D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Wingfield
keywords: Mating; homothallism; sexual reproduction; unisexual reproduction