Multiple sex pheromones and receptors of a mushroom-producing fungus elicit mating in yeast

The mushroom-producing fungus Schizophyllum commune has thousands of mating types defined, in part, by numerous lipopeptide pheromones and their G pro tein-linked receptors. Compatible combinations of pheromones and receptors encoded by different mating types regulate a pathway of sexual development leading to mushroom formation and meiosis. A complex set of pheromone-recep tor interactions maximizes the likelihood of outbreeding; for example, a si ngle pheromone can activate more than one receptor and a single receptor ca n be activated by more than one pheromone. The current study demonstrates t hat the sex pheromones and receptors of Schizophyllum, when expressed in Sa ccharomyces cerevisiae, can substitute for endogenous pheromone and recepto r and induce the yeast pheromone response pathway through the yeast G prote in. Secretion of active Schizophyllum pheromone requires some, but not all, of the biosynthetic machinery used by the yeast lipopeptide pheromone a-fa ctor. The specificity of interaction among pheromone-receptor pairs in Schi zophyllum was reproduced in yeast, thus providing a powerful system for exp loring molecular aspects of pheromone-receptor interactions for a class of seven-transmembrane-domain receptors common to a wide range of organisms.