Biologists at The University of Nottingham and University College Dublin have announced a major breakthrough in our understanding of the sex life of a microscopic fungus which is a major cause of death in immune deficient patients and also a cause of severe asthma.

Endosymbiotic relationships-in which one organism lives within another-are striking examples of mutualism, and can often significantly shape the biology of the participant species. In new findings that highlight the extent to which a host organism can become dependent on its internal symbiont, researchers have identified a case in which the reproduction of a fungus has become dependent on bacteria that live within its cytoplasm.