名古屋大学Gohta Goshima团队在研究中取得进展。他们提出了海洋酵母单细胞和多细胞的遗传转换。相关论文发表在2026年1月7日出版的《自然》杂志上。

在这里，课题组研究人员确定了两个多壁菌黑酵母种营养反应性兼性克隆多细胞性的遗传和细胞基础。在Hortaea werneckii的10个基因中，任何一个基因的缺失都会导致近专性单细胞或多细胞。这些基因中有6个编码丝状真菌分生（无性孢子）的调控因子，尽管在H. werneckii中没有观察到分生。第二位点突变经常恢复或逆转表型，揭示兼性多细胞性的遗传灵活性。Myb蛋白在H. werneckii中作为状态转换的开关调节因子；它的表达和降解与营养条件相结合，稳定单细胞或多细胞生长。

然而，尽管条件调节因子也同样被用来实现兼性多细胞性，但Myb基因在相关物种Neodothiora pruni中是不可缺少的，这进一步突出了可塑性调节的分子多样性。生态学上，多细胞倾向的H. werneckii生态型是从海绵中分离出来的，海绵条件培养基诱导多细胞。本研究建立了一个可处理的模型系统，用于在遗传、细胞和生态尺度上解剖兼性克隆多细胞，并概述了遗传和细胞策略，以获得、失去和恢复多细胞，更广泛地说，表型可塑性。

据介绍，多细胞生物的进化被认为是地球生命史上的一个重大转变。在从单细胞到专性多细胞的进化过程中，兼性克隆多细胞可能构成了一个中间状态，在这个中间状态下，单细胞增殖和克隆多细胞生长是可以切换的。然而，人们对这种转换的机制知之甚少。

附：英文原文

Title: Genetic switch between unicellularity and multicellularity in marine yeasts

Author: Kurita, Gakuho, Adachi, Kyoka A., Uesaka, Kazuma, Goshima, Gohta

Issue&Volume: 2026-01-07

Abstract: The evolution of multicellularity is considered to be a major transition in the history of life on Earth1. In the evolution from unicellularity to obligate multicellularity, facultative clonal multicellularity may constitute an intermediate state, in which unicellular proliferation and clonal multicellular growth are switchable2,3,4. However, little is known about the mechanisms of switching. Here we identify the genetic and cellular basis of nutrition-responsive facultative clonal multicellularity in two black-yeast species of Dothideomycetes. Deletion of any one of ten genes in Hortaea werneckii5,6 results in near-obligate unicellularity or multicellularity. Six of these genes encode regulators of conidiation (asexual sporulation) in filamentous fungi7, despite conidiation not being observed in H. werneckii. Second-site mutations often restore or reverse the phenotype, revealing genetic flexibility underlying facultative multicellularity. A Myb protein functions as a switch-like regulator of state transitions in H. werneckii; its expression and degradation are coupled to nutrient conditions, stabilizing unicellular or multicellular growth. However, while conidiation regulators are similarly co-opted to enable facultative multicellularity, the Myb gene is dispensable in the related species Neodothiora pruni8, further highlighting molecular diversity in plasticity regulation. Ecologically, multicellular-prone H. werneckii ecotypes are isolated from sponges, and sponge-conditioned medium induces multicellularity. This study establishes a tractable model system for dissecting facultative clonal multicellularity across genetic, cellular and ecological scales, and outlines genetic and cellular strategies to gain, lose and regain multicellularity and, more broadly, phenotypic plasticity.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09881-4

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09881-4