Sporangiospore Size Dimorphism Is Linked to Virulence of Mucor circinelloides
Figure 5
Disruption of the sexM gene and mating and virulence tests of the sexM mutants.
(A) Southern blot analysis shows that the sexM gene was replaced with the pyrG gene resulting in disruption of the sexM gene in two transformants. The sexM probe corresponds to a 1.3-kb EcoRI fragment of the 3′ region of sexM. (B) Two sexM mutants [MU423 (sexMΔ1) and MU424 (sexMΔ2)] are sterile in mating assays with (+) or (−) strains (see also Figure 3S). The parental MU402 strain is a pyrG leuA double mutant. (C) The sexM mutants do not display differences in spore size or virulence in the wax moth host. See Figure 3S for additional PCR validation of the sexM mutant strains.