The fine structure of ascospore delimitation in the yeast Wickerhamia fluorescens
Photographic records of complete serial sections of asci in different stages of sporulation show that one of the four nuclear lobes produced during meiosis in the ascus of the yeast Wickerhamia fluorescens has a complex spindle-pole body, which is the site from where the presumptive ascospore wall, or prospore wall, develops and eventually surrounds the ascospore nucleus and associated cytoplasm. The three remaining nuclei develop spindle-pole bodies and prospore walls to lesser and varying degrees. With few exceptions, all three degenerate. The outer membrane of the prospore wall forms a fold, or rim, on the outside of the spore. Thickening of the spore wall takes place first in the asymmetric ring, then around the spore body, and finally at the site where the nucleus is associated with the wall. It is shown that ascospore delimitation in W. fluorescens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae are similar to each other, and that it differs from the type observed in a number of Euascomycetes.