COMPARISON OF VIABILITY OF STRAINS OF NEUROSPORA AFTER STORAGE IN LIQUID NITROGEN

Abstract

The survival of mutant and wild type macroconidia of Neurospora was compared after the conida, in the "air dry" state, had been frozen rapidly to −196 °C in liquid nitrogen and thawed rapidly. The 16 isolates of Neurospora were compared after 3 months' storage in liquid nitrogen with 7-day-old control cultures. Eleven of the 16 isolates showed no significant difference from 7-day-old controls in the pattern of germination after 8 hours' incubation. In the remainder, those spores germinating did so at a rate comparable to that of the controls, but the final proportion germinating was 5.0–19.0% lower.