The fate of mitochondria after infection of the Mucoralean fungus <i>Absidia glauca</i> by the fusion parasite <i>Parasitella parasitica</i>: comparison of mitochondrial genomes in zygomycetes

Abstract

<p><i>Absidia glauca</i> and <i>Parasitella parasitica</i> constitute a versatile experimental system for studying horizontal gene transfer between a mucoralean host and its fusion parasite. The <i>A. glauca</i> chondriome has a length of approximately 63 kb and a GC content of 28%. The chondriome of <i>P. parasitica</i> is larger, 83 kb, and contains 31% GC base pairs. These mtDNAs contain the standard fungal mitochondrial gene set, small and large subunit rRNAs, plus ribonuclease P RNA. Comparing zygomycete chondriomes reveals an unusually high number of homing endonuclease genes in <i>P. parasitica</i>, substantiating the mobility of intron elements independent of host-parasite interactions.</p