Mutations giving rise to sexual sterility were induced in Neurospora crassa macroconidia by ultraviolet-light irradiation. Thirty mutants were isolated on the basis of their male sterility in crosses with a wild-type strain. When used as the male parent these mutants exhibited a wide spectrum of sexual behaviour patterns ranging from the production of only small brown protoperithecia (complete male sterility) to the production of large and normally pigmented perithecia but with an undeveloped ostiole and very few if any spores. For many of the mutants the behaviour pattern is different when the strain is used as the female parent. Segregation data reveal that none of these mutants represent mutations of the mating-type locus. These findings suggest that the sexual development cycle is blocked at various stages in the different mutant strains. All attempts to restore fertility by supplying various additives to the medium or by varying the incubation time and temperature were unsuccessful. Conidial viability tests carried out on many of the strains revealed no abnormality in this respect. The aberrant segregation patterns exhibited by many of the mutants are discussed.

Eighteen male sterile mutants of N. crassa which block various stages of the sexual development cycle have been functionally categorized on the basis of complementation tests. Nine of these (those which block early stages of the sexual cycle) have also been analysed through recombination studies. On the basis of these data, a minimum of four genes appear to be involved in early stages of sexual development (i.e. probably prior to karyogamy) and several genes are indicated which control later stages of the cycle. Complementation phases with respect to sexual development in heterothallic Ascomycetes are discussed as well as a comparison of results obtained with expectations and with those obtained in related Ascomycetes.

The coats of Ta–Ta+ and c–c+ chimaeric mice have been compared with those of Ta heterozygotes and animals heterozygous for an X-autosome translocation which causes c-variegation. With one exception all those features typical of the heterozygotes were found in their chimaeric counterparts, thus showing that the creation of two cell populations by X-inactivation can ultimately lead to the observed heterozygous phenotypes. The one exceptional feature not found in c-variegated chimaeric mice was the progessive increase in the proportion of pigmented hairs in c areas with age which occurs in X-autosome translocation heterozygotes.

The coat of a Modp / + – Ta chimaeric animal was also investigated. Ta hairs showing only the colour effect of Modp were numerous, suggesting that Modp and Ta affect different cell populations. However, Ta hairs showing the structural effect of Modp were very rare. The two observations suggest Modp can operate independently upon two different cell types – melanocytes and hair follicle cells.

X-linked modification of the heterozygous phenotypes of X-linked genes has been detected in the X chromosomes of several inbred strains of mice. The effect is similar to that of the alternative ‘states’ or alleles, of the X chromosome controlling element, Xce, identified in T(1; X)Ct X chromosomes. Tests on two such differing X chromosomes have indicated that the phenotypic modification results either from non-random inactivation of the two X chromosomes or from selection operating on the two cell populations differentiated by X-inactivation. The data provide evidence of non-random X chromosome activity in the somatic cells of the female mouse.

The ocular cataracts produced by the dominant CatFr gene in the mouse, Mus musculus, are associated with quantitative changes in the lens proteins (crystallins). The three classes of crystallin are affected differentially in homozygotes. Heterozygotes show a smaller effect. The quantitative levels of crystallin subunits are also affected and these changes are different for each subunit. The overall loss in protein is not readily explicable hi terms of a generalised leakage or a general tendency to insolubilisation. Possible mechanisms for the action of the gene are suggested.

A more extensive linkage map of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAO has been compiled from data obtained by both, conjugation and transduction procedures. All the markers examined are located on one linkage group and the available evidence suggests that the sex factor FP2 promotes transfer of the chromosome in a polarized manner from only one site on this linkage group.

A multienzyme complex for five of the enzymes in the prechorismate portion of the aromatic biosynthetic pathway has been demonstrated in Ustilago violacea, and has previously been reported in U. maydis (Ahmed & Giles, 1969). This complex is similar to that found in Neurospora crassa and other fungi. In U. violacea polyaromatic-requiring mutants show pleiotropic deficiencies for all five of these enzymes, similar to the extreme pleiotropic polar mutants of the arom gene cluster in Neurospora (Giles, Case, Partridge & Ahmed, 1967a; Case & Giles, 1971). This result is interpreted as mutational evidence for an arom gene cluster in U. violacea comparable to that in N. crassa. A second low molecular weight, heat-stable isozyme of dehydroquinase is shown to be present at high (constitutive) levels in U. maydis, as previously indicated by Ahmed & Giles (1969), but this activity is increased to extraordinarily high levels in cells grown in the presence of quinate. In contrast, U. violacea strains do not grow on quinate, have a single, heat-labile dehydroquinase species, and lack activities for other enzymes in the quinate catabolic pathway.

In order to investigate the importance of the nuclear genotype during morphogenesis of the cortex in Paramecium aurelia, a search was made for conditional and unconditional mutants affecting cell shape. Ten different mutants were readily recovered following mutagenesis with N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine on stock 51s of syngen 4. The detailed pattern of surface units remained unchanged in these mutants but each one can be described as resembling a normal cell twisted about its long axis. Nine of the mutants complement each other and show no linkage. The remaining mutant, a ‘chain former’, has conditional expression, and is only recognizable at 35 °C. The penetrance of this mutant is affected by the food organism used. The conditional mutant also interacts with seven of the other mutants in pairwise homozygous combinations so that in these genotypes it can be classified after growth at 25 °C. The mutants are discussed in relation to the search for genie effects on the cortical pattern.

Mutants in the ftr cistron of the Basidiomycete Coprinus lagopus have a lesion in sugar transport. Fifty-two alleles are placed in an allele map using recombination frequencies obtained from over 400 heteroallelic crosses. The mutant sites in the allele map are distinctly clustered into three approximately equally spaced regions. It is demonstrated that the clustering is not due to any mutational specificity. Evidence is presented which indicates that the clusters are functionally differentiated both within themselves and from one another. Additivity of recombination frequencies was good over the whole of the allele map and there was no overall map expansion. However, specific marker effect sites could be recognized. The data indicate that marker effect may act to enhance or reduce recombination frequency and that enhancement is equal and opposite to reduction. It is also shown that marker effect enhancement is only observed when the interval being mapped exceeds a certain minimum value, but that there was no upper limit to the size of the interval. Expression of marker effect was influenced both by the background genome and by the nature of the mutation at the second site in the heteroallelic cross. It is suggested that current models of recombination do not adequately explain these data and, more importantly, that then-reliance on initial breakage of DNA strands in the formation of hybrid DNA creates grave mechanical difficulties. A model for genetic recombination is proposed in which the sequence of events is: (i) separation of intact double helices into single strands; (ii) illegitimate pairing between single strands from non-sister chromatids; (iii) strand breakage and exchange of covalent links so as to legitimize the illegitimately paired regions. The model allows for the formation of hybrid DNA either with or without coincident chiasmata. It is envisaged that the error recognized by any excision-repair system involved in recombination is the tangled strands at each end of the illegitimately paired region rather than base mismatching; and that the exchange of covalent links in stage (iii) involves the excision and replacement of segments of DNA.

The gene for resistance to phage BF23 and colicins E1, E2 and E3, bfe, was mapped by a combination of conjugation and transduction crosses. Co-transduction of bfe was found with markers in the region between 76 and 79 min on the Escherichia coli genetic map. The highest frequency of co-transduction was found with argH (47%). Three-factor transductional crosses showed unambiguously that bfe lies between argH and supM, at about 77·5 min on the map.

Double cross-overs were detected in a few crosses involving segment ‘29’ mutants of locus ‘14’ in Podospora anserina. The occurrence of such recombination events made it necessary to reconsider the localization of three mutants. Use of an outside marker and the analysis of many other crosses allowed these mutants to be mapped unambiguously. The change in the localization of one of these mutants together with complementation tests on a new mutant leads to the conclusion that the polycistronic unit of transcription contains only four cistrons instead of the five previously thought to exist.