Same-sex mating and the origin of the Vancouver Island Cryptococcus gattii outbreak

被引:367
作者
Fraser, JA
Giles, SS
Wenink, EC
Geunes-Boyer, SG
Wright, JR
Diezmann, S
Allen, A
Stajich, JE
Dietrich, FS
Perfect, JR
Heitman, J [1 ]
机构
[1] Duke Univ, Med Ctr, Dept Mol Genet & Microbiol, Durham, NC 27710 USA
[2] Duke Univ, Med Ctr, Howard Hughes Med Inst, Durham, NC 27710 USA
[3] Duke Univ, Med Ctr, Dept Cell Biol, Durham, NC 27710 USA
[4] Duke Univ, Med Ctr, Inst Genome Sci & Policy, Durham, NC 27710 USA
[5] Duke Univ, Med Ctr, Dept Med, Durham, NC 27710 USA
[6] Duke Univ, Med Ctr, Dept Pharmacol & Canc Biol, Durham, NC 27710 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1038/nature04220
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Genealogy can illuminate the evolutionary path of important human pathogens. In some microbes, strict clonal reproduction predominates, as with the worldwide dissemination of Mycobacterium leprae, the cause of leprosy(1). In other pathogens, sexual reproduction yields clones with novel attributes, for example, enabling the efficient, oral transmission of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii(2). However, the roles of clonal or sexual propagation in the origins of many other microbial pathogen outbreaks remain unknown, like the recent fungal meningoencephalitis outbreak on Vancouver Island, Canada, caused by Cryptococcus gattii(3). Here we show that the C. gattii outbreak isolates comprise two distinct genotypes. The majority of isolates are hypervirulent and have an identical genotype that is unique to the Pacific Northwest. A minority of the isolates are significantly less virulent and share an identical genotype with fertile isolates from an Australian recombining population. Genotypic analysis reveals evidence of sexual reproduction, in which the majority genotype is the predicted offspring. However, instead of the classic a - alpha sexual cycle, the majority outbreak clone appears to have descended from two alpha mating-type parents. Analysis of nuclear content revealed a diploid environmental isolate homozygous for the major genotype, an intermediate produced during same-sex mating. These studies demonstrate how cryptic same-sex reproduction can enable expansion of a human pathogen to a new geographical niche and contribute to the ongoing production of infectious spores. This has implications for the emergence of other microbial pathogens and inbreeding in host range expansion in the fungal and other kingdoms.
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收藏
页码:1360 / 1364
页数:5
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