Summary
Sixty two ascospore colour mutants have been induced in Ascobolus immersus: 25 by an acridine (ICR170), 18 by N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NG) and 19 by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS). All these mutants have been crossed to the wild type strain and their conversion spectrum has been determined. It appears that the conversion spectrum is closely related to the origin of the mutants studied with respect to the mutagen by which they were induced. All NG mutants gave numerous asci with postmeiotic segregation and an excess of conversion to wild type over conversion to the mutant type. ICR mutants gave no postmeiotic segregation and an excess of conversion to the mutant type. The majority of EMS mutants behave like NG mutants, but some showed only meiotic segregation with either an excess of conversion to the mutant type or an excess of conversion to wild type. These data are in good agreement with the hypothesis that the nature of the mutation has a strong influence on the conversion spectrum.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brusick, D. J.: The mutagenic activity of ICR170 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mutation Res. 10, 11–19 (1970).
Doerfler, W., Hogness, D.S.: Gene orientation in bacteriophage λ as determined from the genetic activities of heteroduplex DNA formed in vitro. J. molec. Biol. 33, 661–678 (1968).
Emerson, S.: Quantitative implications of the DNA-repair model of gene conversion. Genetics 53, 475–485 (1966).
Hastings, P.J., Whitehouse, H.L.K.: A polaron model of genetic recombination by the formation of hybrid deoxyribonucleic acid. Nature (Lond.) 201, 1052–1054 (1964).
Holliday, R.: A mechanism for gene conversion in fungi. Genet. Res. (Camb.) 5, 282–304 (1964).
Kelly, R.B., Atkinson, M.R., Huberman, J.A., Kornberg, A.: Excision of thymine dimers and other mismatched sequences by DNA polymerase of Escherichia coli. Nature (Lond.) 224, 495–507 (1969).
Leblon, G.: Influence de la nature des mutations sur le mécanisme de la conversion génique. Thèse de 3ème cycle. Université Paris-Sud — Centre d'Orsay (1971).
Lissouba, P., Mousseau, J., Rizet, G., Rossignol, J.-L.: Fine structure of genes in Ascobolus immersus. Adv. in Genetics 11, 343–380 (1962).
Malling, H.V.: The mutagenicity of the acridine mustard (ICR170) and structurally related compounds in Neurospora. Mutation Res. 4, 265–274 (1967).
—: deSerres, F.J.: Identification of genetic alterations induced by ethyl methanesulfonate in Neurospora crassa. Mutation Res. 6, 181–193 (1968).
— Genetic effects of N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine in Neurospora crassa. Molec. gen. Genet. 106, 195–207 (1970).
Norkin, L.C.: Marker-specific effects in genetic recombination. J. molec. Biol. 51, 633–655 (1970).
Paszewski, A.: Gene conversion: observations on the DNA hybrid models. Genet. Res. (Camb.) 15, 55–64 (1970).
Rizet, G., Engelmann, N., Lefort, C., Lissouba, P., Mousseau, J.: Sur un Ascomycète intéressant pour l'étude de certains aspects du problème de la structure du gène. C. R. Acad. Sci. (Paris). 270, 2050–2052 (1960).
Rossignol, J.-L.: Existence of homogeneous categories of mutants exhibing various conversion patterns in gene 75 of Ascobolus immersus. Genetics 63, 795–805 (1969).
Spatz, H.Ch., Trautner, T.A.: One way to do experiments on gene conversion? Molec. gen. Genet. 109, 84–106 (1970).
Stadler, D.R., Towe, A.M., Rossignol, J.-L.: Intragenic recombination of ascospore color mutants in Ascobolus and its relationship to the segregation of outside markers. Genetics 66, 429–447 (1970).
Stahl, F. W.: One way to think about gene conversion. Genetics, 61, Suppl. 1–13 (1969).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by W. Gajewski
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Leblon, G. Mechanism of gene conversion in Ascobolus immersus . Molec. Gen. Genet. 115, 36–48 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00272216
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00272216