TY - JOUR
T1 - Completion of the sexual cycle and demonstration of genetic recombination in Ustilago maydis in vitro
AU - Ruiz-Herrera, J.
AU - León-Ramírez, C.
AU - Cabrera-Ponce, J. L.
AU - Martínez-Espinoza, A. D.
AU - Herrera-Estrella, L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This work was partially supported by grants from CONACYT and CONCYTEG, México, from ICGEB to JR-H; and from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to LH-E. We thank Guadalupe Sanchez-Garcṍ a for expert technical assistance with tissue culture of maize.
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - The heterobasidiomycetes responsible for plant smuts obligatorily require their hosts for the completion of the sexual cycle. Accordingly, the sexual cycle of these fungi could so far be studied only by infecting host plants. We have now induced Ustilago maydis, the causative agent of corn smut, to traverse the whole life cycle by growing mixtures of mating-compatible strains of the fungus on a porous membrane placed on top of embryogenic cell cultures of its host Zea mays. Under these conditions, mating, karyogamy and meiosis take place, and the fungus induces differentiation of the plant cells. These results suggest that embryogenic maize cells produce diffusible compounds needed for completion of the sexual cycle of U. maydis, as the plant does for the pathogen during infection.
AB - The heterobasidiomycetes responsible for plant smuts obligatorily require their hosts for the completion of the sexual cycle. Accordingly, the sexual cycle of these fungi could so far be studied only by infecting host plants. We have now induced Ustilago maydis, the causative agent of corn smut, to traverse the whole life cycle by growing mixtures of mating-compatible strains of the fungus on a porous membrane placed on top of embryogenic cell cultures of its host Zea mays. Under these conditions, mating, karyogamy and meiosis take place, and the fungus induces differentiation of the plant cells. These results suggest that embryogenic maize cells produce diffusible compounds needed for completion of the sexual cycle of U. maydis, as the plant does for the pathogen during infection.
KW - Cell cycle
KW - Corn smut
KW - Meiosis
KW - Ustilago maydis
KW - Zea mays
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032742216&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s004380051107
DO - 10.1007/s004380051107
M3 - Article
C2 - 10589834
AN - SCOPUS:0032742216
SN - 0026-8925
VL - 262
SP - 468
EP - 472
JO - Molecular and General Genetics
JF - Molecular and General Genetics
IS - 3
ER -