Abstract Detail

Poster Session

Hann-Soden, Christopher [1], Taylor, John W [1].

Reproductive Diversity and Sympatric Species in Populations of Neurospora from Soil.

The genus Neurospora has become a valuable model for genetics, molecular and cellular biology, and physiology, but we know shockingly little about its life history or ecology. Germination of Neurospora ascospores is induced by heat and furans, byproducts of wood combustion, which indicates that the genus is fire adapted. However, collection of Neurospora populations from ascospores found in soil recovers a greater diversity of species than is observed after forest fires in North America. In contrast to the apparent dominance of temperate North America by Neurospora discreta, diverse Neurospora species are found from soil samples within several kilometers of each other. Previously rare homothallic and aconidial heterothallic species are common in the soil, while Neurospora discreta was not found in the soil, even from sites where it had been previously collected from trees. These findings question our previous assumptions about Neurospora's life history. A better understanding of this life history will inform genomic inference and studies of Neurospora physiology, further increasing the value of this model.

1 - UC Berkeley, Plant and Microbial Biology, 111 Koshland Hall, Berkeley, California, 94720-3102, United States

Keywords:
Neurospora.

Presentation Type: Offered Paper - Poster
Session: P3
Location: Lincoln Room/Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center
Date: Monday, June 9th, 2014
Time: 8:00 PM
Number: P3002
Abstract ID:123
Candidate for Awards:Graduate Student Poster Presentation Award