Streptomyces induces unisexual reproduction of a major human fungal pathogen
- 1Duke University Medical Center
Abstract
Cryptococcus, a human pathogenic yeast, can undergo unisexual reproduction in the absence of compatible mating partners, yet this developmental program remains poorly understood. Here, we report that tunicamycin, a natural product produced by Streptomyces species, induces a complete unisexual reproductive cycle in different Cryptococcus species. Bacterial confrontation or purified tunicamycin trigger hyphal differentiation, meiotic recombination, and basidiospore formation, as confirmed by whole-genome sequencing and SNP analyses. We further demonstrate that tunicamycin-induced unisexual development requires canonical sexual regulators and meiotic machinery. Transcriptomic profiling reveals staged developmental reprogramming characterized by early induction of stress- and cell cycle-associated genes, followed by enrichment of genes in the filamentation-related pathways. This capacity varies among natural isolates of C. neoformans and was conserved in Cryptococcus gattii. Together, our findings demonstrate that a bacterial metabolite can activate meiotically competent unisexual reproduction, highlighting interkingdom chemical signaling as a potential driver of fungal evolution in natural environments.
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BibTeX
@misc{son2026streptomyces,
title = {{Streptomyces induces unisexual reproduction of a major human fungal pathogen}},
author = {Y.-E. Son and X. Chen and G. Wright and S. Sun and J. Heitman},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.05.756715},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.05.756715v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Streptomyces induces unisexual reproduction of a major human fungal pathogen
AU - Y.-E. Son
AU - X. Chen
AU - G. Wright
AU - S. Sun
AU - J. Heitman
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.05.756715
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.05.756715v1
AB - Cryptococcus, a human pathogenic yeast, can undergo unisexual reproduction in the absence of compatible mating partners, yet this developmental program remains poorly understood. Here, we report that tunicamycin, a natural product produced by Streptomyces species, induces a complete unisexual reproductive cycle in different Cryptococcus species. Bacterial confrontation or purified tunicamycin trigger hyphal differentiation, meiotic recombination, and basidiospore formation, as confirmed by whole-genome sequencing and SNP analyses. We further demonstrate that tunicamycin-induced unisexual development requires canonical sexual regulators and meiotic machinery. Transcriptomic profiling reveals staged developmental reprogramming characterized by early induction of stress- and cell cycle-associated genes, followed by enrichment of genes in the filamentation-related pathways. This capacity varies among natural isolates of C. neoformans and was conserved in Cryptococcus gattii. Together, our findings demonstrate that a bacterial metabolite can activate meiotically competent unisexual reproduction, highlighting interkingdom chemical signaling as a potential driver of fungal evolution in natural environments.
ER -