Evidence map›Paper›PMID 12454063›Full record

ArticleGenetics2002

Estimating the spontaneous mutation rate of loss of sex in the human pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans.

Jianping Xu

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Genetics, 2002. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed
1.8field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 51 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Global Sexual Fertility in the Opportunistic PathogenJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Sex and the Imperfect Fungi.Microbiology spectrum · 2017
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Unisexual reproduction.Advances in genetics · 2014
    Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Is sex necessary?BMC biology · 2011
    Article
  14. The evolution of sex: a perspective from the fungal kingdom.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2010
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Jianping XuDepartment of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada. jpxu@mcmaster.ca
McMaster University · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Few events have evolutionary consequences as pervasive as changes in reproductive behavior. Among those changes, the loss of the ability to undergo sexual reproduction is probably the most profound. However, little is known about the rate of loss of sex. Here I describe an experimental system using the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans and provide the first empirical estimate of the spontaneous mutation rate of loss of sex in fungi. Two critical steps in sexual reproduction in C. neoformans were examined: mating and filamentation. Mating, the fusion of cells of opposite sexes, is a universal first step in eukaryotic sexual reproduction. In contrast, filamentation, a prerequisite process preceding meiosis and sexual spore development, is restricted to C. neoformans and a few other fungal species. After approximately 600 mitotic divisions under favorable asexual growth conditions, mean abilities for mating and filamentation decreased significantly by >67 and 24%, respectively. Similarly, though statistically not significant, the mean vegetative growth rates also decreased and among the mutation accumulation lines, the vegetative growth rates were negatively correlated to the mating ability. The estimated mutation rates to decreases in mating ability and filamentation were in excess of 0.0172 and 0.0036, respectively. The results show that C. neoformans can be a highly attractive model for analyses of reproductive system evolution in fungi.

Indexed as

MutationCryptococcus neoformansReproduction, Asexual

Identifiers

PMID12454063
PMCPMC1462337
OpenAlexW1889636385

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.