Figure 4: Distribution of proteins involved in signalling and hyphal morphogenesis.
From: Innovation and constraint leading to complex multicellularity in the Ascomycota
(a) Genes involved in light- and ROS-related signal transduction are mostly present in Neolecta and other CM taxa, and absent in budding and fission yeasts. (b) The fusion of chitin synthase and myosin motors (CHS-5 and CHS-7) occurred early in the fungal lineage. These sequences were retained in CM taxa and lost in the two yeast lineages. The septal pore associated protein SPA-10 arose before the divergence of Neolecta and Pezizomycotina. Protein sequences are named according to the model system in which they have been most extensively characterized. For aliases, refer to Supplementary Table 6. Filled squares denote presence, empty squares denote absence. (c) Wild type (WT) hyphae make multicellular precursors (arrows), which mature into fruiting bodies upon fertilization (inset, scale bar, 100μm). The spa-10 mutant (Δspa-10) is defective in this developmental pathway. Scale bar, 1 mm.
