Algal Sex Determination and the Evolution of Anisogamy

James Umen (1) , Susana Coelho (2)

1 Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
2 LBI2M - Laboratoire de Biologie Intégrative des Modèles Marins

Algae are photosynthetic eukaryotes whose taxonomic breadth covers a range of life histories, degrees of cellular and developmental complexity, and diverse patterns of sexual reproduction. These patterns include haploid-and diploid-phase sex determination, and isogamous mating systems, and dimorphic sexes. Despite the ubiquity of sexual reproduction in algae, their mating-type-determination and sex-determination mechanisms have been investigated in only a limited number of representatives. These include volvocine green algae, where sexual cycles and sex-determining mechanisms have shed light on the transition from mating types to sexes, and brown algae, which are a model for UV sex chromosome evolution in the context of a complex haplodiplontic life cycle. Recent advances in genomics have aided progress in understanding sexual cycles in less-studied taxa including ulvophyte, charophyte, and prasinophyte green algae, as well as in diatoms.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

James Umen, Susana Coelho. Algal Sex Determination and the Evolution of Anisogamy. Annual Review of Microbiology, 2019, 73 (1), ⟨10.1146/annurev-micro-020518-120011⟩. ⟨hal-02187088⟩