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Homothallism and heterothallism in Sordaria brevicollis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1998

SUSAN J. ROBERTSON ,
D. JEFF BOND  and
NICK D. READ
SUSAN J. ROBERTSON
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh, Rutherford Building, Edinburgh EH9 3JH, U.K.
D. JEFF BOND
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh, Rutherford Building, Edinburgh EH9 3JH, U.K.
NICK D. READ
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh, Rutherford Building, Edinburgh EH9 3JH, U.K.
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Abstract

Sordaria brevicollis is a filamentous ascomycete previously considered to be exclusively heterothallic. Here we show that S. brevicollis can exhibit homothallism, and describe the genetic and environmental factors favouring the process. Both mating types can produce perithecia in unmated cultures, but only in the uncrossed perithecia of mtA are ascospores formed (in <30% of the fruitbodies). In most cases, only one or two asci are produced in any uncrossed mtA perithecium, although as many as 13 have been observed. The ascospores show no segregation for mating type; all are mtA. Heterokaryon analysis established that meiosis and recombination occurred during ascospore production in both homothallic and heterothallic development. Homothallic fruiting is inhibited both by crossing with the opposite mating type, and by light.

Type
Research Article
Information
Mycological Research , Volume 102 , Issue 10 , September 1998 , pp. 1215 - 1223
Copyright
© The British Mycological Society 1998

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