NULL MUTANTS OF THE A AND a MATING TYPE ALLELES OF NEUROSPORA CRASSA

Abstract

Thirty-five null mutants have now been obtained of the A mating type allele, which have simultaneously lost both known functions-heterokaryon incompatibility and sexual compatibility with strains of the opposite mating type, a. The mutants, designated Am, were obtained by selecting for heterokaryon compatibility following UV-irradiation of the normal A. Twenty-five of the mutations were viable as homokaryons. Both functions reverted together when two of these were irradiated. In most respects, Am mutations resemble the previously reported am mutations in their behavior. The Am mutations differ, however, in failing to produce illegitimate empty perithecia in crosses with testers of the same mating type from which they originated. — The previously obtained am mutants were characterized further. It was confirmed that these am mutants show abortive mating reactions, legitimate and illegitimate, with several tester strains, thus showing that such reactions are fundamental properties of the mutants themselves. In support of this, it was shown that the A-like behavior of am strains in the illegitimate reaction is not due to acquisition of determining elements through cytoplasmic contact with A in heterokaryons. It is possible that the sterile am mutants can be carried through a cross by a fertile heterokaryotic partner, but an extended study of meiotic products presumed to stem from this process confirmed that if such a process occurs it can involve no recombination on linkage group I. The single fertile am mutant was shown to have normal recombination on L.G.I. Escape from (A + a) incompatibility was shown to be possible in the identical heterokaryon used for am induction. Escape cannot be ruled out as a source of nonrecoverable am mutations.