Abstract Sexual reproduction is the basic way to form high genetic diversity and it beneficial in evolution speciation of fungi. The global teleomorphic species Ascomycota has not been estimated. This paper estimates number for sexual ascomycetes based on five different estimation approaches, viz. by numbers described fungi, fungus:substrate ratio, ecological distribution, meta-DNA barcoding or...

The nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) is considered as a paradigm of concerted evolution. Components of the rDNA tandem repeats (45S) are widely used in phylogenetic studies of different organisms and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was recently selected as a fungal DNA bar code. However, rRNA pseudogenes, as one kind of escape from concerted evolution, were reported in a wide range of ...

Multigene families are observed in all genomes sequenced so far and are the reflection of key evolutionary mechanisms. The DUP240 family, identified in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain S288C, is composed of 10 paralogs: seven are organized as two tandem repeats and three are solo ORFs. To investigate the evolution of the three solo paralogs, YAR023c, YCR007c and YHL044w, we performed a comparati...

Two-component phosphorelay systems are minimally comprised of a histidine kinase (HK) component, which autophosphorylates in response to an environmental stimulus, and a response regulator (RR) component, which transmits the signal, resulting in an output such as activation of transcription, or of a mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade. The genomes of the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Sc...

The reproductive genes of fungi, like those of many other organisms, are thought to diversify rapidly. This phenomenon could be associated with the formation of reproductive barriers and speciation. Ascomycetes produce two classes of mating type-specific peptide pheromones. These are required for recognition between the mating types of heterothallic species. Little is known regarding the divers...

Higher fungi, which comprise ascomycetes and basidiomycetes, play major roles in the biosphere. Their evolutionary success may be due to the extended dikaryotic stage of their life cycle, which is the basis for their scientific name: the Dikarya. Dikaryosis is maintained by similar structures, the clamp in basidiomycetes and the crozier in ascomycetes. Homeodomain transcription factors are requ...

Some previous and recent collections of bitunicate ascomycetes from China were examined. Saccardoella psidiicola is described as a new species. Dothidotthia ramulicola, Macrovalsaria megalospora, Phaeosphaeria eustomoides and Plowrightia periclymeni are recorded for the first time from China.

BACKGROUND We investigated the determinants of sexual identity in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The higher fungi are divided into the ascomycetes and the basidiomycetes. Most ascomycetes have two mating types: one (called α in yeasts and MAT1-1 in filamentous fungi) produces a small, unmodified, peptide pheromone, and the other (a in yeasts and MAT1-2 in filamentous fungi) produce...