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doi:10.1534/genetics.105.045302
A more recent version of this article appeared on December 1, 2005.
REGULAR RESEARCH PAPERS |
Cost of Interacting with Sexual Partners in a Facultative Sexual Microbe
Jianping Xu 1*
1 McMaster University
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jpxu{at}mcmaster.ca.
Submitted on May 6, 2005
Revised on June 21, 2005
Accepted on 21 June 2005
The widespread occurrence of sexual organisms despite the high costs of sex has long intrigued biologists. The best known costs are the two-fold cost of producing males and the cost associated with producing traits to attract mates and to interact with mating partners, such as exaggerated sexual behaviors and morphological modifications. These costs have been inferred from studies of plants and animals but are thought to be absent in facultative sexual microbes. Here, using the facultative sexual fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, I provide experimental evidence showing that: (i) interactions with active sexual partners can be costly for vegetative fitness in a facultative sexual microbe; (ii) this cost is negatively correlated to mating ability; (iii) this cost is comprised of at least two distinct components: the cost of producing mating signals that exert effects on mating partners and that associated with responding to active mating partners; and (iv) extended asexual reproduction can reduce both components of the cost. This cost must have been compensated for by the production of zygotes and sexual spores to allow the initial evolution and spread of sexual reproduction in eukaryotes.
Key Words: Cryptococcus neoformans, experimental evolution,, fungus,, mating ability,, vegetative fitness,
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