MEIOSIS IN NEUROSPORA CRASSA. II. GENETIC AND CYTOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THREE MEIOTIC MUTANTS

A. M. DeLange ¹ and A. J. F. Griffiths ¹

¹ Department of Botany, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1W5, Canada

Three recessive meiotic mutants, asc(DL95), asc(DL243) and asc(DL879), were detected by the abortion of many of their ascospores and were analyzed using both cytological and genetic methods. Even though asc(DL95), asc(DL243) and the previously studied meiotic mutant, mei-1 (Smith 1975; Lu and Galeazzi 1978), complement one another in crosses, they apparently do not recombine (DeLange and Griffiths 1980). Thus, they may represent alleles of the same gene or comprise a gene cluster. Ascospore abortion in these mutants is caused by abnormal disjunction of meiotic chromosomes. In crosses homozygous for asc(DL95), asc(DL879) or mei-1, both pairing of homologs and meiotic recombination frequencies are reduced. In each case, this primary defect is followed by the formation of univalents at metaphase I and their irregular segregation. The mutant asc(DL243) has a defect in ascus formation, and later in disjunction during the second meiotic and post-meiotic divisions. The first-acting defect before or during karyogamy results in the abortion of most cells. Some cells manage to proceed past this block. During the second meiotic division, most chromosomes of the few resulting asci are attached to only one of the two spindle-pole bodies. Disjunction at the postmeiotic division is also highly irregular. This mutant appears to be defective in the attachment of one spindle-pole body to a set of chromosomes. The defect may involve either a centromere-associated product or a spindle-pole body.