Ascospore aggregation and oxylipin distribution in the yeast Dipodascopsistothii

Upon cultivation of the yeast Dipodascopsis tothii in its sexual stage, sma ll ascospores are released individually from the ascus tip, which then asse mble in sheathed cluster balls. In contrast to Dipodascopsis uninucleata, t his yeast produced smooth bean shaped ascospores with sheath-like appendage s that assemble in a disordered sheathed ball of ascospores outside the asc us. Strikingly, upon release, the ascus tip contained 3-hydroxy oxylipins, while the released ascospore clusters contained little or no 3-hydroxy oxyl ipins as indicated by immunofluorescence microscopy. In D. uninucleata, the se oxylipins are concentrated on the spore surface and interspore matrix, b ut not on the ascus tip.