Transfer of genetic information from the mycoparasite Parasitella parasitica to its host Absidia glauca.

The infection of the model organism Absidia glauca by P. parasitica is accompanied by the fusion of both mycelia. By two lines of evidence we were able to show that this process is associated with the transfer of genes. First, auxotrophically labelled A. glauca mutants are efficiently complemented as a consequence of transfer of the parasite's genetic material. Second, for a plasmid-coded dominant marker (neomycin resistance), which is expressed in either organism, we proved the presence of plasmid DNA in recombinant recipients by molecular analysis at the DNA level. We propose the term para-recombinants for describing recombinant inter-generic chimaerae, which are generated as a consequence of mycoparasitism.