A reproductive hierarchy controls mating fates among sibling yeast gametes
Abstract
Mating strategies shape inbreeding, gene flow and genetic diversity, yet their outcomes remain challenging to quantify. In Saccharomyces, population-genomic models predict mating predominantly between sibling meiotic products, with rare selfing and outcrossing. Here we developed an integrated framework combining multicolor flow cytometry, time-resolved imaging and mathematical modelling to directly quantify mating across scales. Bulk measurements revealed coexisting strategies whose frequencies vary with density, genotype and environment. A minimal stochastic model uses these population-level patterns to infer probabilistic hierarchies among mating modes, which single-tetrad analyses independently support. These reveal divergent and interdependent reproductive trajectories among sibling gametes, with one pair typically mating first and reshaping opportunities for the others.
Temporal heterogeneity in germination and mating further diversifies reproductive outcomes and shapes compatibility, as experimental synchronization overcomes temporal reproductive barriers, enabling hybridization. Together, reproductive strategy emerges from heterogeneous gamete fates, raising the possibility that sibling diversification constitutes reproductive bethedging.
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BibTeX
@misc{vischioni2026reproductive,
title = {{A reproductive hierarchy controls mating fates among sibling yeast gametes}},
author = {Chiara Vischioni and Benjamin P Barré and Nina Vittorelli and Matteo de Chiara and Simone Pompei and Clément Vulin and Julien S Luneau and Katarzyna Tomasiak and Nicolò Tellini and Simon Laugier and Sakshi Khaiwal and Sara Mitri and Bertrand Llorente and Marco Cosentino Lagomarsino and Gilles Fischer and Gianni Liti},
howpublished = {HAL},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.17.759705},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05844994v1},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A reproductive hierarchy controls mating fates among sibling yeast gametes
AU - Chiara Vischioni
AU - Benjamin P Barré
AU - Nina Vittorelli
AU - Matteo de Chiara
AU - Simone Pompei
AU - Clément Vulin
AU - Julien S Luneau
AU - Katarzyna Tomasiak
AU - Nicolò Tellini
AU - Simon Laugier
AU - Sakshi Khaiwal
AU - Sara Mitri
AU - Bertrand Llorente
AU - Marco Cosentino Lagomarsino
AU - Gilles Fischer
AU - Gianni Liti
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/17
PB - HAL
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.17.759705
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05844994v1
AB - Mating strategies shape inbreeding, gene flow and genetic diversity, yet their outcomes remain challenging to quantify. In Saccharomyces, population-genomic models predict mating predominantly between sibling meiotic products, with rare selfing and outcrossing. Here we developed an integrated framework combining multicolor flow cytometry, time-resolved imaging and mathematical modelling to directly quantify mating across scales. Bulk measurements revealed coexisting strategies whose frequencies vary with density, genotype and environment. A minimal stochastic model uses these population-level patterns to infer probabilistic hierarchies among mating modes, which single-tetrad analyses independently support. These reveal divergent and interdependent reproductive trajectories among sibling gametes, with one pair typically mating first and reshaping opportunities for the others. Temporal heterogeneity in germination and mating further diversifies reproductive outcomes and shapes compatibility, as experimental synchronization overcomes temporal reproductive barriers, enabling hybridization. Together, reproductive strategy emerges from heterogeneous gamete fates, raising the possibility that sibling diversification constitutes reproductive bethedging.
ER -