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Eukaryotic Cell, March 2006, p. 544-554, Vol. 5, No. 3
1535-9778/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.5.3.544-554.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Pheromones Are Essential for Male Fertility and Sufficient To Direct Chemotropic Polarized Growth of Trichogynes during Mating in Neurospora crassa

Hyojeong Kim and Katherine A. Borkovich*

Department of Plant Pathology, 1415 Boyce Hall, 900 University Avenue, University of California, Riverside, California 92521

Received 18 November 2005/ Accepted 3 January 2006

Neurospora crassa is a self-sterile filamentous fungus with two mating types, mat A and mat a. Its mating involves chemotropic polarized growth of female-specific hyphae (trichogynes) toward male cells of the opposite mating type in a process involving pheromones and receptors. mat A cells express the ccg-4 pheromone and the pre-1 receptor, while mat a strains produce mRNA for the pheromone mfa-1 and the pre-2 receptor; MFA-1 and CCG-4 are the predicted ligands for PRE-1 and PRE-2, respectively. In this study, we generated {Delta}ccg-4 and {Delta}mfa-1 mutants and engineered a mat a strain to coexpress ccg-4 and its receptor, pre-2. As males, {Delta}ccg-4 mat A and {Delta}mfa-1 mat a mutants were unable to attract mat a and mat A trichogynes, respectively, and consequently failed to initiate fruiting body (perithecial) development or produce meiotic spores (ascospores). In contrast, {Delta}ccg-4 mat a and {Delta}mfa-1 mat A mutants exhibited normal chemotropic attraction and male fertility. {Delta}ccg-4 {Delta}mfa-1 double mutants displayed defective chemotropism and male sterility in both mating types. Heterologous expression of ccg-4 enabled mat a males to attract mat a trichogynes, although subsequent perithecial differentiation did not occur. Expression of ccg-4 and pre-2 in the same strain triggered self-stimulation, resulting in formation of barren perithecia with no ascospores. Our results indicate that CCG-4 and MFA-1 are required for mating-type-specific male fertility and that pheromones (and receptors) are initial determinants for sexual identity during mate recognition. Furthermore, a self-attraction signal can be transmitted within a strain that expresses a pheromone and its cognate receptor.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Plant Pathology, 1415 Boyce Hall, 900 University Avenue, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521. Phone: (951) 827-2753. Fax: (951) 827-4294. E-mail: Katherine.Borkovich{at}ucr.edu.

Eukaryotic Cell, March 2006, p. 544-554, Vol. 5, No. 3
1535-9778/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.5.3.544-554.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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