A Genetic Study of Female Sterility in Neurospora crassa

Abstract

<p>In a general way, this study was directed towards the understanding of processes concerned with the sexual reproduction of Neurospora crassa. It was prompted by an observation of Threlkeld that crosses between Neurospora strains derived from different genetic backgrounds occasionally produce sterile progeny. This specific project was concerned with finding naturally occurring variants expressing some form of sterility, studying their genetics and complementation, and characterizing the mutants found for several properties.</p> <p>A search for sterility uncovered patterns of perithecial and ascospore production among strains being tested for their ability to participate in crosses and also resulted in the finding of a female sterile variant. Subsequently a rather complex pedigree of crosses involving female sterile strains followed by conidial analysis and genetic and complementation studies of selected strains revealed a total of eight mutants causing this phenotype, all appearing to have arisen spontaneously among some of the strains used. Some linkage data were obtained, and the mutants were characterized for growth characteristics and crossing ability under different cultural conditions. Possible interpretations of the findings were considered.</p>