CMS Meeting – April 2026
- Speaker: Kyle Mondron
- Topic: From Linnemannia with Love: Unraveling the Mating Biology of a Non-Dikaryan Fungus
- When: Wednesday, April 15, 2026, at 7pm
- Where: In person at the Hilyard Community Center – This presentation will not be recorded.
The Mortierellomycotina (Mucoromycota) are soil-associated fungi that have been isolated from all continents on Earth. These fungi play a role in rescuing plants from stress-associated growth reduction, and are thought to be key recyclers of chitin biomass in the soil. Interestingly, approximately 10%-30% of naturally-occurring isolates harbor bacteria that live as obligate endosymbionts within fungal cells. This symbiotic lifestyle has strong impacts on fungal physiology, and isolates associated with bacterial endosymbionts typically have reduced growth and differential culture morphology from bacteria-free isolates. Critically, bacterial presence is also associated with no sexual spore (zygospore) production, potentially directing the evolutionary trajectory of Mortierellaceae fungi.
Despite sexual compatibility being published since at least the 1970s, major aspects of Mortierellomycotina sexual biology remain unknown. For example, the genetic basis for sexual identity and partner-partner compatibility, the enzymes responsible for producing sexual pheromones (trisporic acids) and pheromone receptors, and germination of zygospores remain unreported. This presentation will focus on how Mortierellomycotina fungi may navigate sexual interactions, using Linnemannia elongata as a model organism for Mortierellomycotina at large, but will not focus heavily on bacterial influence of mating biology. I will discuss on-going work regarding morphological development during sexual interactions, evaluation of a candidate mating-type (MAT) locus for Linnemannia elongata, and potential identification of zygospore germination, highlighting novel approaches and techniques where appropriate and future directions that are planned.
About our Speaker
Kyle Mondron is currently a 5th-year PhD Candidate in the Uehling Lab at Oregon State University, where research is focused on understanding how cross-kingdom symbioses are established, maintained, and how these interactions shape evolution. Before his PhD, Kyle was raised in rural, central Illinois and obtained a BS in Chemistry at Northern Illinois University, where participating in 4 years of academic research encouraged him to apply for graduate school. He previously obtained a MSc through the College of Forestry at OSU, studying potential genetic sources of defense or susceptibility to stem cankers produced by Sphaerulina musiva (Ascomycota) on hybrid poplar. Enjoying fungal biology, statistics, and computational genomics, he joined as the first PhD Student of the Uehling Lab at OSU in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology (College of Agricultural Sciences). Here, Kyle became interested in elucidating how Mortierellomycotina navigate sexual compatibility and produce zygospores in the absence of their endohyphal bacteria, to better understand how bacteria-associated isolates have different sexual interactions. He is interested in fungal development and the biological and abiotic cues that lead to morphological change. Kyle is looking to finish his PhD program in the Fall of 2026, and is currently investigating opportunities for employment.
