Biology
Latent homology and convergent regulatory evolution underlies the repeated emergence of yeasts
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Convergent evolution is common throughout the tree of life, but the molecular mechanisms causing similar phenotypes to appear repeatedly are obscure. Yeasts have arisen in multiple fungal clades, but the genetic causes and consequences of their evolutionary origins are unknown. Here we show that the potential to develop yeast forms arose early in fungal evolution and became dominant independently in multiple clades, most likely via parallel diversification of Zn-cluster transcription factors, a fungal-specific family involved in regulating yeast-filamentous switches. Our results imply that convergent evolution can happen by the repeated deployment of a conserved genetic toolkit for the same function in distinct clades via regulatory evolution. We suggest that this mechanism might be a common source of evolutionary convergence even at large time scales. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
Publication Title
Nature Communications
Publication Date
7-18-2014
Volume
5
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
10.1038/ncomms5471
Keywords
phylogeny, evolution, yeasts, fungal evolution, evolutionary genetics
Repository Citation
Nagy, László G.; Ohm, Robin A.; Kovács, Gábor M.; Floudas, Dimitrios; Riley, Robert; Gácser, Attila; Sipiczki, Mátyás; Davis, John M.; Doty, Sharon L.; De Hoog, G. Sybren; Lang, B. Franz; Spatafora, Joseph W.; Martin, Francis M.; Grigoriev, Igor V.; and Hibbett, David S., "Latent homology and convergent regulatory evolution underlies the repeated emergence of yeasts" (2014). Biology. 207.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_biology/207
Cross Post Location
Student Publications
