TY - JOUR AU - Daubois, Laurence AU - Beaudet, Denis AU - Hijri, Mohamed AU - de la Providencia, Ivan PY - 2016 DA - 2016/01/23 TI - Independent mitochondrial and nuclear exchanges arising in Rhizophagus irregularis crossed-isolates support the presence of a mitochondrial segregation mechanism JO - BMC Microbiology SP - 11 VL - 16 IS - 1 AB - Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are members of the phylum Glomeromycota, an early divergent fungal lineage that forms symbiotic associations with the large majority of land plants. These organisms are asexual obligate biotrophs, meaning that they cannot complete their life cycle in the absence of a suitable host. These fungi can exchange genetic information through hyphal fusions (i.e. anastomosis) with genetically compatible isolates belonging to the same species. The occurrence of transient mitochondrial length-heteroplasmy through anastomosis between geographically distant Rhizophagus irregularis isolates was previously demonstrated in single spores resulting from crossing experiments. However, (1) the persistence of this phenomenon in monosporal culture lines from crossed parental isolates, (2) its correlation with nuclear exchanges and (3) the potential mechanisms responsible for mitochondrial inheritance are still unknown. Using the AMF model organism R. irregularis, we tested whether the presence of a heteroplasmic state in progeny spores was linked to the occurrence of nuclear exchanges and whether the previously observed heteroplasmic state persisted in monosporal in vitro crossed-culture lines. We also investigated the presence of a putative mitochondrial segregation apparatus in Glomeromycota by identifying proteins similar to those found in other fungal groups. SN - 1471-2180 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-016-0627-5 DO - 10.1186/s12866-016-0627-5 ID - Daubois2016 ER -