Abstract
A strain of Neurospora intermedia from China contains five prominent extragenomic mitochondrial plasmids: three linear elements called zhisi plasmids, and two circular plasmids, Harbin-1 and -2. In one subculture, levels of four plasmids (all three zhisis and Harbin-1) fell to undetectable values and two novel linear plasmids appeared, Harbin-L and -L2, as well as a new small circular plasmid, Harbin-0.9. Cross-hybridization of restriction fragments and DNA sequencing showed that the Harbin-L plasmid was composed of parts of the circular Harbin-1 plasmid and of one of the linear zhisi plasmids. A model is presented in which the Harbin-1 and zhisi plasmids are present within the same mitochondrion, and crossovers at two separate 7 by sites of sequence identity effectively insert part of the circular Harbin-1 DNA into a zhisi linear plasmid, simultaneously deleting part of the zhisi element. The small plasmid Harbin-0.9 is a fragment of the Har-1 plasmid, and seems to be another product of the recombination process that created Har-L. Recombination of this type could have contributed to the wide array of mitochondrial plasmids found in natural populations of Neurospora.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akins RA, Grant DM, Stohl LL, Bottorf DA, Nargang FE, Lambowitz AM (1988) Nucleotide sequence of the Varkud mitochondrial plasmid of Neurospora and synthesis of a hybrid transcript with a 5′ leader derived from mitochondrial DNA. J Mol Biol 204:1–25
Almasan A, Mishra NC (1991) Recombination by sequence repeats with formation of suppressive or residual mitochondrial DNA in Neurospora. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88:7684–7688
Altschul SF, Gish W, Miller W, Myers EW, Lipman DJ (1990) Basic local alignment research tool. J Mol Biol 215:403–410
Arganoza MT, Min J, Hu Z, Akins RA (1994) Distribution of seven homology groups of mitochondrial plasmids in Neurospora: evidence for widespread mobility between species in nature. Curr Genet 26:62–73
Bertrand H, Chan BS-S, Griffiths AJF (1985) Insertion of a foreign nucleotide sequence into mitochondrial DNA causes senescence in Neurospora intermedia. Cell 41:877–844
Chan BS-S, Court DA, Vierula PJ, Bertrand H (1991) The kalilo linear senescence-inducing plasmid of Neurospora is an invertron and encodes DNA and RNA polymerases. Curr Genet 20:225–237
Court DA, Bertrand H (1992) Genetic organization and structural features of maranhar, a senescence-inducing linear mitochondrial plasmid of Neurospora crassa. Curr Genet 22:385–397
Court DA, Griffiths AJF, Kraus SR, Russell PJ, Bertrand H (1991) A new senescence-inducing linear plasmid in field-isolated Neurospora crassa strains from India. Curr Genet 19:129–137
Davis RH, DeSerres FJ (1970) Genetic and microbiological techniques for Neurospora crassa. Methods Enzymol 17A:79–143
De Vries H, Alzner-DeWeerd B, Breitenberger CA, Chang DD, de Jonge JC, RajBhandry UL (1986) The E35 stopper mutant of Neurospora crassa: precise localization of deletion endpoints in mitochondrial DNA and evidence that the deleted DNA codes for a subunit of NADH dehydrogenase. EMBO 5:779–785
Duvell A, Hessberg-Stutzke H, Oeser B, Rogmann-Backwinkel P, Tudzynski P (1988) Structural and functional analysis of mitochondrial plasmids in Claviceps purpurea. Mol Gen Genet 214:128–134
Esser K, Kück U, Lang-Hinrichs C, Lemke P, Osiewacz HD, Stahl U, Tudzynski P (1986) Plasmids of eukaryotes. Fundamentals and applications. Springer-Verlag, New York
Griffiths AJF (1992) Fungal senescence. Annu Rev Genet 26:351–372
Griffiths AJF, Kraus SR, Barton R, Court DA, Myers CJ, Bertrand H (1990) Heterokaryotic transmission of senescence plasmid DNA in Neurospora. Curr Genet 17:139–145
Gross SR, Hsieh T, Levine PH (1984) Intramolecular recombination as a source of mitochondrial chromosome heteromorphism in Neurospora. Cell 38:233–239
Hermanns J, Osiewacz HD (1992) The linear mitochondrial plasmid pAL2-1 of a long-lived Podospora anserina mutant is an invertron encoding a DNA and RNA polymerase. Curr Genet 22:491–500
Hermanns J, Osiewacz HD (1994) Three mitochondrial unassigned open reading frames of Podospora anserina represent remnants of a viral-type RNA polymerase gene. Curr Genet 25:150–157
Hermanns J, Asseburg A, Osiewacz HD (1995) Evidence for giant linear plasmids in the ascomycete Podospora anserina. Curr Genet, in press
Kempken F (1995) Plasmid DNA in mycelial fungi. In: Küch U (ed) The Mycota II Genetics and Biotechnology. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg
Kempken F, Hermanns J, Osiewacz, HD (1992) Evolution of linear plasmids. J Mol Evol 35:502–513
Lonsdale DM, Grienenberger JM (1992) The mitochondrial genome of plants. In: Hermann R (ed) Plant gene research: cell organelles. Springer-Verlag, Wien, pp 183–218
Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Marcinko-Kuehn M, Yang X, Debets F, Jacobson DJ, Griffiths AJF (1994) A kalilo-like linear plasmid in Louisiana field isolates of the pseudohomothallic fungus Neurospora tetrasperma. Curr Genet 26:336–343
Meinhardt F, Kempken F, Kamper JK, Esser K (1990) Linear plasmids among eukaryotes: fundamentals and applications. Curr Genet 17:89–95
Myers CJ, Griffiths AJF, Bertrand H (1989) Linear kalilo DNA is a Neurospora mitochondrial plasmid that integrates into the mitochondrial DNA. Mol Gen Genet 220:113–120
Nargang FE, Pande S, Kennell JC, Akins RA, Lambowitz AM (1992) Evidence that a 1.6 kilobase region of Neurospora mtDNA was derived by insertion of part of the LaBelle mitochondrial plasmid. Nucleic Acids Res 20:1101–1108
Natvig DO, May G, Taylor JW (1984) Distribution and evolutionary significance of mitochondrial plasmids in Neurospora spp. J Bacteriol 159:288–293
Oeser B, Tudzynski P (1989) The linear mitochondrial plasmid pCIK1 of the phytopathogenic fungus Claviceps purpurea may code for a DNA polymerase and an RNA polymerase. Mol Gen Genet 217-132–140
Oeser B, Rogmann-Backwinkel P, Tudzynski P (1993) Interaction between mitochondrial DNA and mitochondrial plasmids in Claviceps purpurea: analysis of plasmid-homologous sequences upstream of the LrRNA gene. Curr Genet
Robinson MM, Royer JC, Horgen PA (1991) Homology between mitochondrial DNA of Agaricus bisporus and an internal portion of a linear mitochondrial plasmid of Agaricus bitorquis. Curr Genet 19:495–502
Rohe M, Schrage K, Meinhardt F (1991) The linear plasmid pMC32 from Morchella conica is structurallly related to adenoviruses. Curr Genet 20:527–533
Sakaguchi K (1990) Invertrons, a class of structurally and functionally related genetic elements that includes linear DNA plasmids, transposable elements, and genomes of adenoviruses. Microbiol Rev 54:66–74
Schiestl RH, Petes TD (1991) Integration of DNA fragments by illegitimate recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88:7585–7589
Taylor JW, Smolich BD, May G (1985) An evolutionary comparison of homologous mitochondrial plasmid DNAs from three Neurospora species. Mol Gen Genet 201:161–167
Tudzynski P, Esser K (1986) Extrachromosomal genetics of Claviceps purpurea. Curr Genet 10:463–467
Vierula PJ, Cheng CK, Court DA, Humphreys RW, Thomas DY, Bertrand H (1990) The kalilo senescence plasmid of Neurospora intermedia has covalently-linked 5′ terminal proteins. Curr Genet 17:195–201
Vierula JP, Bertrand H (1992) A deletion derivative of the kalilo senescence plasmid forms hairpin and duplex DNA structures in the mitochondria of Neurospora. Mol Gen Genet 234:361–368
Wang H, Lambowitz AM (1993) The Mauriceville plasmid reverse transcriptase can initiate cDNA synthesis de novo and may be related to reverse transcriptase and DNA polymerase progenitor. Cell 75:1071–1081
Wright RM, Cummings DJ (1983) Integration of mitochondrial gene sequences within the nuclear genome during senescence in a fungus. Nature 302:86–88
Yang X, Griffiths AJF (1993a) Plasmid diversity in senescent and nonsenescent strains of Neurospora. Mol Gen Genet 237:177–186
Yang X, Griffiths AJF (1993b) Plasmid suppressors active in the sexual cycle of Neurospora intermedia. Genetics 135:993–1002
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by D. Lonsdale
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Griffiths, A.J.F., Yang, X. Recombination between heterologous linear and circular mitochondrial plasmids in the fungus Neurospora . Molec. Gen. Genet. 249, 25–36 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290232
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290232