TY - JOUR
T1 - Light stimulation of conidiation in Neurospora crassa
T2 - Studies with the wild-type strain and mutants wc-1, wc-2 and acon-2
AU - Lauter, Frank Roman
AU - Yamashiro, Carl T.
AU - Yanofsky, Charles
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to David Perkins for his interest in this project and for many valuable suggestions. We thank Dr Peter Margolis and Dr Kristin Black for their comments on the manuscript. F.R.L. was partially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (La714/1-1 ). C.T.Y. was partially supported by an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship. This project was also supported by National Science Foundation Grant MCB 9405001 to C.Y.
PY - 1997/2
Y1 - 1997/2
N2 - Blue light influences several events in the life cycle of the ascomycete Neurospora crassa. It has been shown previously that light stimulates asexual sporulation (conidiation) in the double mutant strain, albino-2, band (al-2 bd). In this paper, we report that light is also essential for maximal conidiation by the wild-type strain. Consistent with this finding, two mutants which are defective in other light responses, wc-1 and wc-2, conidiate as efficiently as the wild-type strain in the dark, but show no incremental response to light. Light has a profound effect on conidiation in acon-2, a mutant which is temperature sensitive for conidiation. At the permissible temperature, this mutant produces approximately 500-fold more conidia in the light than in the dark. In addition, the double mutants acon-2 wc-1 and acon-2 wc-2 conidiate very poorly, even in the light. Microscopic studies have shown that the majority of aerial hyphae produced by the acon-2 wc-1 and acon-2 wc-2 double mutants at the non-permissible temperature are blocked at the same stage of development as observed for their single mutant parent acon-2, namely at the stage leading to minor constriction chain formation. Northern blot analyses examining the expression of two conidiation-specific genes are consistent with this conclusion.
AB - Blue light influences several events in the life cycle of the ascomycete Neurospora crassa. It has been shown previously that light stimulates asexual sporulation (conidiation) in the double mutant strain, albino-2, band (al-2 bd). In this paper, we report that light is also essential for maximal conidiation by the wild-type strain. Consistent with this finding, two mutants which are defective in other light responses, wc-1 and wc-2, conidiate as efficiently as the wild-type strain in the dark, but show no incremental response to light. Light has a profound effect on conidiation in acon-2, a mutant which is temperature sensitive for conidiation. At the permissible temperature, this mutant produces approximately 500-fold more conidia in the light than in the dark. In addition, the double mutants acon-2 wc-1 and acon-2 wc-2 conidiate very poorly, even in the light. Microscopic studies have shown that the majority of aerial hyphae produced by the acon-2 wc-1 and acon-2 wc-2 double mutants at the non-permissible temperature are blocked at the same stage of development as observed for their single mutant parent acon-2, namely at the stage leading to minor constriction chain formation. Northern blot analyses examining the expression of two conidiation-specific genes are consistent with this conclusion.
KW - Aconidial mutant
KW - Conidiation
KW - Light effects
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U2 - 10.1016/S1011-1344(96)07405-2
DO - 10.1016/S1011-1344(96)07405-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0031079566
SN - 1011-1344
VL - 37
SP - 203
EP - 211
JO - Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology
JF - Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology
IS - 3
ER -