Genetics

"Sex in fungi; characterising the mating genes"

True fungi can essentially be divided into two large groups, the Basidiomycetes which include the group that produce mushrooms and the Ascomycetes which include many plant pathogens (for example the Dutch Elm Disease fungus and the Chestnut Blight pathogen).

The mating system in Ascomycetes is quite simple and it is known that two mating genes are
involved in sexual reproduction in these fungi. These mating genes have been characterised in some Ascomycetes but there are many important tree pathogens for which these genes have not been investigated.

In the Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology [CTHB] we have a number of projects which has as one of their objectives a better understanding of the mating system of a specific fungal pathogen. The project which the CTHB in collaboration with the Genetics department is offering this year will involve the characterisation of part of the MAT-1 gene of Ophiostoma ulmi and its closest relatives. Ophiostoma ulmi is the causal agent of Dutch Elm disease and has been responsible for changing the landscape of Europe over the last 100 years. The one MAT gene (MAT-2) of this fungus has been characterised by researchers in Europe but the MAT-1 gene sequence is currently unknown.

Grade 11 learners are invited to join Markus Wilken in his endeavour to clone and sequence this gene. During the process the "UP with Science" learners will learn about DNA, an
amplification process called the Polymerase Chain reaction, how to clone DNA (and actually doing some cloning), DNA sequence and DNA sequence analysis. Research is never that predictable but we hope that the Learners in this project will get quite a bit of hands on experience in the field of Molecular Genetics.

Participants

• Mr. Markus Wilken
• Prof. Brenda Wingfield