The ancestral levels of transcription and the evolution of sexual phenotypes in filamentous fungi

Changes in gene expression have been hypothesized to play an important role in the evolution of divergent morphologies. To test this hypothesis in a model system, we examined differences in fruiting body morphology of five filamentous fungi in the Sordariomycetes, culturing them in a common garden e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS genetics 2017-07, Vol.13 (7), p.e1006867-e1006867
Main Authors: Trail, Frances, Wang, Zheng, Stefanko, Kayla, Cubba, Caitlyn, Townsend, Jeffrey P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bayes Theorem
Bayesian analysis
Bioinformatics
Biological Evolution
Biology and Life Sciences
Computer and Information Sciences
Consortia
Developmental biology
Developmental stages
Divergence
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Fruit bodies
Fruiting Bodies, Fungal - genetics
Funding
Fungi
Fungi - genetics
Gene deletion
Gene expression
Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal - genetics
Gene families
Gene Knockout Techniques
Genetic aspects
Genome, Fungal - genetics
Genomes
Genomics
Medicine and Health Sciences
Molds (Fungi)
Morphology
Neurospora crassa - genetics
Observations
Phenotype
Phenotypes
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Plant biology
Quality control
Research and Analysis Methods
Roles
Sex Differentiation - genetics
Sordariales - genetics
Sordariales - growth & development
Transcription
Transcription (Genetics)
Transcriptome - genetics
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Summary:Changes in gene expression have been hypothesized to play an important role in the evolution of divergent morphologies. To test this hypothesis in a model system, we examined differences in fruiting body morphology of five filamentous fungi in the Sordariomycetes, culturing them in a common garden environment and profiling genome-wide gene expression at five developmental stages. We reconstructed ancestral gene expression phenotypes, identifying genes with the largest evolved increases in gene expression across development. Conducting knockouts and performing phenotypic analysis in two divergent species typically demonstrated altered fruiting body development in the species that had evolved increased expression. Our evolutionary approach to finding relevant genes proved far more efficient than other gene deletion studies targeting whole genomes or gene families. Combining gene expression measurements with knockout phenotypes facilitated the refinement of Bayesian networks of the genes underlying fruiting body development, regulation of which is one of the least understood processes of multicellular development.
ISSN:1553-7404
1553-7390
1553-7404
DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.1006867