Term of Award

Spring 1994

Degree Name

Master of Science

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Committee Chair

Wayne A. Krissinger

Committee Member 1

Sara Neville Bennett

Committee Member 2

Oscar J. Pung

Committee Member 3

James B. Claiborne

Abstract

Unlike the wild type strain, osmotic-sensitive mutants of Neurospora crassa fail to grow on medium with elevated osmotic pressure and normally exhibit aggregated aerial hyphae that often rupture and exude pigmented cytoplasm. Osmotic sensitivity and the accompanying altered morphology are thought to be pleiotropic effects of single genes. Following UV irradiation of wild type 74A conidia and a filtration concentration procedure in minimal medium containing 3% NaCl, an osmotic-sensitive strain, SS-1018, was isolated in the Georgia Southern Neurospora Genetics Laboratory. Although the mutant is osmotic sensitive, its gross morphology resembles that of the wild type strain and differs from the previously described osmotic-sensitive mutants. SS-1018 possessed an abundance of aerial hyphae and a biomass equal to that of wild type. Microscopic examination of SS-1018 cultures revealed the presence of protoperithecia which were approximately twice the size of those of the wild type strain. Protoperithecia are a direct extension of the hyphal wall. It is possible, therefore, that the increase in size of the SS-1018 protoperithecia may be related to changes in the hyphal wall. Mapping of the mutant placed the locus of SS-1018 in Linkage Group IV between col-4 and cut. The mutant is not an allele of either of the osmotic mutants of LG IV, os-2 and cut, and does not contain a translocation. Therefore, SS-1018 represents a new, osmotic-sensitive mutant of Neurospora crassa.

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