RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 A High Resolution Map of Meiotic Recombination in Cryptococcus Demonstrates Decreased Recombination in Unisexual Reproduction JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 234617 DO 10.1101/234617 A1 Cullen Roth A1 Sheng Sun A1 R. Blake Billmyre A1 Joseph Heitman A1 Paul M. Magwene YR 2017 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/12/14/234617.abstract AB Multiple species within the basidiomycete genus, Cryptococcus, cause cryptococcal disease. These species are estimated to affect nearly a quarter of a million people leading to approximately 180,000 mortalities, annually. Sexual repro-duction, which can occur between haploid yeasts of the same or opposite mating type, is a potentially important contributor to pathogenesis as recombination can generate novel genotypes and transgressive phenotypes. However, our quantitative understanding of recombination in this clinically important yeast is limited. Here we describe genome-wide estimates of recombination rates in Cryptococcus deneoformans and compare recombination between progeny from α-α unisexual and a-α bisexual crosses. We find that offspring from bisexual crosses have modestly higher average rates of recombination than those derived from unisexual crosses. Recombination hot and cold spots across the C. deneoformans genome are also identified and are associated with increased GC content. Finally, we observed regions genome-wide with allele frequencies deviating from the expected parental ratio. These findings and observations advance our quantitative understanding of the genetic events that occur during sexual reproduction in C. deneoformans, and the impact that different forms of sexual reproduction are likely to have on genetic diversity in this important fungal pathogen.