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Microsporidia evolved from ancestral sexual fungi.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Lee, SC; Corradi, N; Byrnes, EJ; Torres-Martinez, S; Dietrich, FS; Keeling, PJ; Heitman, J
Published in: Curr Biol
November 11, 2008

Microsporidia are obligate, intracellular eukaryotic pathogens that infect animal cells, including humans [1]. Previous studies suggested microsporidia share a common ancestor with fungi [2-7]. However, the exact nature of this phylogenetic relationship is unclear because of unusual features of microsporidial genomes, which are compact with fewer and highly divergent genes [8]. As a consequence, it is unclear whether microsporidia evolved from a specific fungal lineage, or whether microsporidia are a sister group to all fungi. Here, we present evidence addressing this controversial question that is independent of sequence-based phylogenetic reconstruction, but rather based on genome structure. In the zygomycete basal fungal lineage, the sex locus is a syntenic gene cluster governing sexual reproduction in which a high mobility group (HMG) transcription-factor gene is flanked by triose-phosphate transporter (TPT) and RNA helicase genes [9]. Strikingly, microsporidian genomes harbor a sex-related locus with the same genes in the same order. Genome-wide synteny analysis reveals multiple other loci conserved between microsporidia and zygomycetes to the exclusion of all other fungal lineages with sequenced genomes. These findings support the hypothesis that microsporidia are true fungi that descended from a zygomycete ancestor and suggest microsporidia may have an extant sexual cycle.

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Published In

Curr Biol

DOI

ISSN

0960-9822

Publication Date

November 11, 2008

Volume

18

Issue

21

Start / End Page

1675 / 1679

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Synteny
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Microsporidia
  • Genome, Fungal
  • Genes, Mating Type, Fungal
  • Developmental Biology
  • Biological Evolution
  • 52 Psychology
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 31 Biological sciences
 

Citation

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Lee, S. C., Corradi, N., Byrnes, E. J., Torres-Martinez, S., Dietrich, F. S., Keeling, P. J., & Heitman, J. (2008). Microsporidia evolved from ancestral sexual fungi. Curr Biol, 18(21), 1675–1679. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2008.09.030
Lee, Soo Chan, Nicolas Corradi, Edmond J. Byrnes, Santiago Torres-Martinez, Fred S. Dietrich, Patrick J. Keeling, and Joseph Heitman. “Microsporidia evolved from ancestral sexual fungi.Curr Biol 18, no. 21 (November 11, 2008): 1675–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2008.09.030.
Lee SC, Corradi N, Byrnes EJ, Torres-Martinez S, Dietrich FS, Keeling PJ, et al. Microsporidia evolved from ancestral sexual fungi. Curr Biol. 2008 Nov 11;18(21):1675–9.
Lee, Soo Chan, et al. “Microsporidia evolved from ancestral sexual fungi.Curr Biol, vol. 18, no. 21, Nov. 2008, pp. 1675–79. Pubmed, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.09.030.
Lee SC, Corradi N, Byrnes EJ, Torres-Martinez S, Dietrich FS, Keeling PJ, Heitman J. Microsporidia evolved from ancestral sexual fungi. Curr Biol. 2008 Nov 11;18(21):1675–1679.
Journal cover image

Published In

Curr Biol

DOI

ISSN

0960-9822

Publication Date

November 11, 2008

Volume

18

Issue

21

Start / End Page

1675 / 1679

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Synteny
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Microsporidia
  • Genome, Fungal
  • Genes, Mating Type, Fungal
  • Developmental Biology
  • Biological Evolution
  • 52 Psychology
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 31 Biological sciences