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Article Dans Une Revue Biological Reviews -Cambridge- Année : 2011

Having sex, yes, but with whom? Inferences from fungi on the evolution of anisogamy and mating types

M. López-Villavicencio
  • Fonction : Auteur
B. Devier
  • Fonction : Auteur
Hood M.E.
  • Fonction : Auteur
C. Fairhead
T. Giraud
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

The advantage of sex has been among the most debated issues in biology. Surprisingly, the question of why sexual reproduction generally requires the combination of distinct gamete classes, such as small and large gametes, or gametes with different mating types, has been much less investigated.Why do systems with alternative gamete classes (i.e. systems with either anisogamy ormating types or both) appear even though they restrict the probability of finding a compatiblemating partner? Why does the number of gamete classes vary from zero to thousands, withmost oftenonly two classes?We review here the hypotheses proposed to explain the origin, maintenance, number, and loss of gamete classes. We argue that fungi represent highly suitablemodels to help resolve issues related to the evolution of distinct gamete classes, because the number of mating types vary from zero to thousands across taxa, anisogamy is present or not, and because there are frequent transitions between these conditions.Wereview the nature and number of gamete classes in fungi, and we attempt to draw inferences from these data on the evolutionary forces responsible for their appearance, loss ormaintenance, and number.

Dates et versions

hal-00588730 , version 1 (26-04-2011)

Identifiants

Citer

S. Billiard, M. López-Villavicencio, B. Devier, Hood M.E., C. Fairhead, et al.. Having sex, yes, but with whom? Inferences from fungi on the evolution of anisogamy and mating types. Biological Reviews -Cambridge-, 2011, 86, pp.421-442. ⟨10.1111/j.1469-185X.2010.00153.x⟩. ⟨hal-00588730⟩

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