THE MUTATION SK(ad-3A) CANCELS THE DOMINANCE OF ad-3A⁺ OVER ad-3A IN THE ASCUS OF NEUROSPORA

A. M. Delange ¹

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

A newly induced mutant of Neurospora, when crossed with an ad-3A mutant, produces asci with four viable black and four inviable white ascospores. The survivors always contain the new mutant allele, never ad-3A. The new allele, which is called SK(ad-3A) (for spore killer of ad-3A), is located at or very near the ad-3A locus.—In crosses homozygous for ad-3A, each ascus contains only inviable white ascospores. This defect in ascospore maturation is complemented by the wild-type allele, ad-3A⁺ (crosses heterozygous for ad-3A and ad-3A⁺ produce mainly viable ascospores), but it is not complemented by the new SK(ad-3A) allele (all ad-3A ascospores from crosses heterozygous for SK(ad-3A) and ad-3A are white and inviable). In crosses homozygous for SK(ad-3A) or heterozygous for SK(ad-3A) and ad-3A⁺, each ascus contains only viable black ascospores. SK(ad-3A) does not require adenine for growth, and forced heterokaryons between SK(ad-3A) and ad-3A grow at wild-type rates and produce conidia of both genotypes with approximately equal frequency. Thus, the action of SK(ad-3A) is apparently restricted to ascospore formation. Possible mechanisms of the action of this new allele are discussed.

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