THE ACTION OF A MODIFIER GENE ON THE PUFF MORPHOLOGICAL MUTANT OF SCHIZOPHYLLUM COMMUNE
The puff mutant of Schizophyllum commune is characterized by bead-like puffs of hyphae formed by extensive dichotomous branching of lateral branches from main hyphae. Puff segregates as a single gene mutant when mated with wild-type although the expression of the puff phenotype is variable. A modifier gene of puff, p-mod-1, is described. Strains bearing the gene for puff (p) and the p-mod-1 gene are of wild-type appearance macroscopically, but can generally be distinguished microscopically by the dichotomous branching of the hyphal tips. The p-mod-1 gene segregates independently of p. The puff mutant is elasticotropic (i.e. grows along lines of stress), but the presence of the p-mod-1 gene removes this effect. The p-mod-1 gene arose spontaneously in a wild-type strain, but modifiers of mutant morphology have also been obtained by mutagenic treatment. Such modifiers have great utility in morphogenetic studies of hyphal development.