Mating types are the

microorganism A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

equivalent to sexes in multicellular lifeforms and are thought to be the ancestor to distinct

sexes Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...

. They also occur in macro-organisms such as fungi.

Definition

Mating types are the

equivalent to sex in higher organisms and occur in

isogamous Isogamy is a form of sexual reproduction that involves gametes of the same morphology (indistinguishable in shape and size), found in most unicellular eukaryotes. Because both gametes look alike, they generally cannot be classified as male or f ...

and

anisogamous Different forms of anisogamy: A) anisogamy of motile cells, B) 283x283px Anisogamy is a form of sexual reproduction">egg cell">oogamy (egg cell and sperm cell), C) anisogamy of non-motile cells (egg cell and spermatia).">283x283px Anisogamy is ...

species. Depending on the group, different mating types are often referred to by numbers, letters, or simply "+" and "−" instead of "

male Male (Mars symbol, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot sexual reproduction, repro ...

" and "

female Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...

", which refer to "

" or differences in size between

gamete A gamete (; , ultimately ) is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. Gametes are an organism's reproductive cells, also referred to as sex cells. In species that produce ...

Syngamy Fertilisation or fertilization (see spelling differences), also known as generative fertilisation, syngamy and impregnation, is the fusion of gametes to give rise to a new individual organism or offspring and initiate its development. Pro ...

can only take place between gametes carrying different mating types.

Occurrence

Reproduction by mating types is especially prevalent in

fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

. Filamentous

ascomycete Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The d ...

s usually have two mating types referred to as "MAT1-1" and "MAT1-2", following the yeast

mating-type locus The mating-type locus is a specialized region in the genomes of some yeast and other fungi, usually organized into heterochromatin and possessing unique histone methylation patterns. The genes in this region regulate the mating type of the organism ...

(MAT). Under standard nomenclature, MAT1-1 (which may informally be called MAT1) encodes for a regulatory protein with an alpha box motif, while MAT1-2 (informally called MAT2) encodes for a protein with a high motility-group (HMG) DNA-binding motif, as in the yeast mating type MATα1. The corresponding mating types in yeast, a non-filamentous ascomycete, are referred to as MATa and MATα. Mating type genes in ascomycetes are called idiomorphs rather than

allele An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution. ::"The chro ...

s due to the uncertainty of the origin by common descent. The proteins they encode are transcription factors which regulate both the early and late stages of the sexual cycle.

Heterothallic Heterothallic species have sexes that reside in different individuals. The term is applied particularly to distinguish heterothallic fungi, which require two compatible partners to produce sexual spores, from homothallic ones, which are capable o ...

ascomycetes produce gametes, which present a single Mat idiomorph, and

syngamy Fertilisation or fertilization (see spelling differences), also known as generative fertilisation, syngamy and impregnation, is the fusion of gametes to give rise to a new individual organism or offspring and initiate its development. Pro ...

will only be possible between gametes carrying complementary mating types. On the other hand,

homothallic Homothallic refers to the possession, within a single organism, of the resources to reproduce sexually; i.e., having male and female reproductive structures on the same thallus. The opposite sexual functions are performed by different cells of a si ...

ascomycetes produce gametes that can fuse with every other gamete in the population (including its own mitotic descendants) most often because each haploid contains the two alternate forms of the Mat locus in its genome.

Basidiomycete Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basi ...

s can have thousands of different mating types. In the ascomycete ''

Neurospora crassa ''Neurospora crassa'' is a type of red bread mold of the phylum Ascomycota. The genus name, meaning "nerve spore" in Greek, refers to the characteristic striations on the spores. The first published account of this fungus was from an infestation ...

'' matings are restricted to interaction of strains of opposite mating type. This promotes some degree of outcrossing. Outcrossing, through complementation, could provide the benefit of masking recessive deleterious mutations in genes which function in the dikaryon and/or diploid stage of the life cycle.

Evolution

In 1994 Malte Andersson suggested that mating types most likely predated the development of anisogamy. Until 2006, there was no genetic evidence for the evolutionary link between

and mating types. Secondary mating types evolved alongside simultaneous hermaphrodites in several lineages. In

ciliates The ciliates are a group of alveolates characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles called cilia, which are identical in structure to eukaryotic flagella, but are in general shorter and present in much larger numbers, with a different ...

multiple mating types evolved from binary mating types in several lineages. As of 2019,

genomic conflict Intragenomic conflict refers to the evolutionary phenomenon where genes have phenotypic effects that promote their own transmission in detriment of the transmission of other genes that reside in the same genome. The selfish gene theory postulates ...

has been considered the leading explanation for the evolution of two mating types.

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em Mycology Microbiology

Definition

Occurrence

Evolution

See also

References