M. circinelloides is a human pathogenic zygomycete and has a bipolar mating system with (+) and (−) mating types. When co-cultured, strains of opposite mating type recognize each other and sexual reproduction occurs, resulting in the formation of zygospores. Zygospores are the dormant, stress-tolerant stage, and are thick-walled and enveloped by repeated asterisk-like structures, resulting in considerable structural rigidity. After a long period of dormancy from months to a year, zygospores of some species can germinate to produce progeny. Zygospores are morphologically distinct from asexual sporangiospores produced by sporangia (see Li et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002086).
Image Credit: Valerie Knowlton, North Carolina State University; and Joseph Heitman and Soo Chan Lee, Duke University
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