Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25503976›Full record

ArticlePLoS genetics2014

Unisexual reproduction drives meiotic recombination and phenotypic and karyotypic plasticity in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Sheng Sun, R Blake Billmyre, Piotr A Mieczkowski, Joseph Heitman

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS genetics, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
55citing papers in PubMed
4.7field-weighted citation impact, top 5% 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

55 citing papers in PubMed, 78 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Identification of a master regulator Msd1 that governs meiotic entry in a global basidiomycete pathogen.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Unisexual reproduction in the global human fungal pathogenProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  7. Unisexual reproduction in the global human fungal pathogenbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Discovery of CONature microbiology · 2024
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Forest health in the Anthropocene: the emergence of a novel tree disease is associated with poplar cultivation.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023
    Article
  15. On the evolution of variation in sexual reproduction through the prism of eukaryotic microbes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Review
  16. Lessons learned: from mentored to mentor.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2023
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Epistatic genetic interactions govern morphogenesis during sexual reproduction and infection in a global human fungal pathogen.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022
    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

4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Sheng SunDepartment of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America.
R Blake BillmyreDepartment of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America.
Piotr A MieczkowskiDepartment of Biology, High-Throughput Sequencing Facility, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America.
Joseph HeitmanDepartment of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America.
Duke University Hospital · USDuke Medical Center · USUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · US

Funding

ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONS OF CELLULAR STRUCTUREST32GM007184 · NIGMS · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI JINKS-ROBERTSON, SUE · 1985 to 2019
$18.2M
Structure, function, and evolution of the Cryptococcus MAT locusR01AI050113 · NIAID · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI HEITMAN, JOSEPH · 2002 to 2024
$8.5M
Genetics Training Grant-Year 26T32GM007754 · NIGMS · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI HAASE, STEVEN B · 1985 to 2019
$8.3M
ROLE OF CALCINEURIN IN C. NEOFORMANS MATING AND FRUITINGR01AI039115 · NIAID · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI HEITMAN, JOSEPH · 1997 to 2025
$6.7M
Genetics of Cryptococcus sexual reproductionR37AI039115 · NIAID · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI HEITMAN, JOSEPH · 2011 to 2020
$4.9M
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI039115NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI050113NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI50113-10NIAID NIH HHS R37 AI039115NIAID NIH HHS R37 AI39115-17NIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM007184NIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM007754
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In fungi, unisexual reproduction, where sexual development is initiated without the presence of two compatible mating type alleles, has been observed in several species that can also undergo traditional bisexual reproduction, including the important human fungal pathogens Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans. While unisexual reproduction has been well characterized qualitatively, detailed quantifications are still lacking for aspects of this process, such as the frequency of recombination during unisexual reproduction, and how this compares with bisexual reproduction. Here, we analyzed meiotic recombination during α-α unisexual and a-α bisexual reproduction of C. neoformans. We found that meiotic recombination operates in a similar fashion during both modes of sexual reproduction. Specifically, we observed that in α-α unisexual reproduction, the numbers of crossovers along the chromosomes during meiosis, recombination frequencies at specific chromosomal regions, as well as meiotic recombination hot and cold spots, are all similar to those observed during a-α bisexual reproduction. The similarity in meiosis is also reflected by the fact that phenotypic segregation among progeny collected from the two modes of sexual reproduction is also similar, with transgressive segregation being observed in both. Additionally, we found diploid meiotic progeny were also produced at similar frequencies in the two modes of sexual reproduction, and transient chromosomal loss and duplication likely occurs frequently and results in aneuploidy and loss of heterozygosity that can span entire chromosomes. Furthermore, in both α-α unisexual and a-α bisexual reproduction, we observed biased allele inheritance in regions on chromosome 4, suggesting the presence of fragile chromosomal regions that might be vulnerable to mitotic recombination. Interestingly, we also observed a crossover event that occurred within the MAT locus during α-α unisexual reproduction. Our results provide definitive evidence that α-α unisexual reproduction is a meiotic process similar to a-α bisexual reproduction.

Indexed as

Homologous RecombinationMeiosisAllelesAneuploidyCandida albicansChromosome MappingChromosomes, FungalCryptococcus neoformansDNA, FungalGenetic LociGenetic MarkersGenomicsGenotyping TechniquesKaryotypePhenotypeReproduction, AsexualDNA, FungalGenetic Markers

Identifiers

PMID25503976
PMCPMC4263396
OpenAlexW2006535846

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.