Protoplasts of filamentous fungi in genetics and metabolite production

Abstract

Fungal protoplasts are interesting structures for genetic studies. They can be fused and their fusion products can revert to osmotic stable cells. The ability to fuse protoplasts of diverse origin makes them versatile tools in fundamental and applied genetics. Intraspecies protoplast fusion provides an efficient method to induce the parasexual cycle, making genetic analysis as well as strain breeding through mitotic recombination feasible in all kinds of species, regardless the occurrence of parasexuality by conventional means. Interspecies protoplast fusion allows the generation of different types of hybrids, depending on somatic and/or nuclear compatibility. Crosses between closely related species resulted in the formation of stable haploid recombinants as the consequence of genetic processes similar as occurring in the intraspecies parasexual cycle. From fusions between less related species hybrid progeny with differences in morphology and stability arose. Unstable hybrids segregated to other hybrid progeny or to one of the parental species, without recovery of the other parent. The exact genetic background of these hybrids remained obscure. Several studies demonstrated that the novel genetic combination arisen after interspecies protoplast fusion could result in changed gene expression and in the synthesis of novel or hybrid molecules.