14 DAY TRIAL // Having sex with yourself is one thing, but some species manage to sexually reproduce in this manner, without the need for a partner. Now a team at the University of Nottingham investigated this amazing ability on a key fungus species, Aspergillus nidulans.
This fungus has evolved in such a way that the same individual has two different sexes at the same time. When it's time for sex, the fungus turns on its internal sexual machinery and 'mates with itself' to generate new offspring, without bypassing the sexual act. This new crucial finding helps researchers in understanding the way fungi reproduce in general.
Fungi can provoke diseases in humans, (and more severe in) animals and plants, but are useful as sources of pharmaceuticals and food products (from beer and wine to bread, cheese and tofu), not mentioning those fungi that are comestible.
The long-term goal of the research is the manipulation of the fungal sex, so that we could prevent disease and produce better strains for the food and biotech industries.
"When we think of sex in the animal world we normally associate it with males and females attracting each other and then coming together for the sexual act," said lead author Dr Paul Dyer, of the School of Biology.
"But things are different in the fungal and plant kingdoms, where a lot of species are 'self fertile'. This means that they are able to have sex to produce spores and seeds without the need for a compatible partner. Our findings show that Aspergillus nidulans provides a true example of 'DIY sex'."
Self-fertilization could have emerged in some plant and fungal species due to the low number of compatible mating partners. This way, a species can keep a gene pool and a genotype (a gene combination) that is best adapted for living in a given environment.
Aspergillus nidulans is a model organism for investigating an array of basic genetic issues that are also applicable to humans, like recombination, DNA repair and cell metabolism.