GSE111975
Genetic basis for coordination of meiosis and sexual structure maturation in Cryptococcus neoformans
In the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, sexual mating is considered to benefit its infections through meiosis-driven hyper-virulent variants and infectious meiotic spores. How meiotic cycle and mating differentiation program are genetically and developmentally integrated to safeguard successful meiotic sporulation remains poorly known. In C. neoformans, sporulation occurs following two parallel events, meiosis and differentiation of specialized cell termed basidium. To reveal the gene circuits specifically orchestrating basidial maturation and meiosis, we performed high-coverage stand-specific RNA-sequencing analysis to monitor gene induction timing through unisexual differentiation and reveals a co-regulation of these two events by a shared regulatory program. Our findings indicated that the regulatory coupling of meiosis and basidial development may serve as a determinant underlying production of infectious meiospores in C. neoformans. Overall design: 12 samples contain wild type at five various time courses (6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hrs) during unisexual development and pum1 overexpression strain at 24hrs post mating stimulation with two replicates.