A neurospora mutation that arrests perithecial development as either male or female parent

Abstract

A mutant of Neurospora crassa fails to produce perithecia when crossed as either the male (fertilizing) parent or the female (protoperithecial) parent. This mutant is unique in that it appears to be due to a single mutation that blocks sexual development when crossed as either parent. As either a male or female parent, the mutant, fmf-1, produces perithecia blocked at a diameter of 120 microns and containing no meiotic figures; normal perithecia are over 400 microns in diameter. The mutant maps to linkage group IL near arg-1. Forced heterokaryons have been made between fmf-1 and fmf-1(+) nuclei. These heterokaryons are fertile when crossed, and fmf-1 can participate as either the male or female component; the mutation is thus heterokaryon recessive and nuclear nonautonomous. Homokaryotic fmf-1 conidia were purified from a mixed conidial population derived from such a heterokaryon; these conidia failed to function as the male parent, suggesting that the fmf-1(+) gene product is not contained in the conidium. In mixed mating-type heterokaryons, formed using tol, fmf-1 participates in ascospore formation and triggers perithecial development. Moreover, tol suppresses the action of fmf-1 if present in both components of a cross.---These data suggest that (1) fmf-1 acts in the perithecium at some time between fusion of the conidium with the trichogyne and the onset of meiosis; (2) the fmf-1 gene product is not contained in conidia; and (3) both mating types may enter the protoperithecium when a mixed mating-type heterokaryon is used as the male parent.