CHARACTERIZATION OF AN ASPERGILLUS-NIDULANS MUTANT WITH ABNORMAL DISTRIBUTION OF NUCLEI IN HYPHAE, METULAE, PHIALIDES AND CONIDIA

The V10 deteriorated variant of Aspergillus nidulans has hyphae, metul ae, phialides and conidia with abnormal nuclear distributions. The alt erations observed were: increase in the number of nuclei in hyphae, me tulae and phialides, presence of anucleate, uninucleate and multinucle ate conidia, abnormal vegetative growth and defective conidiation. Whe n 0.5 M NaCl was added to the medium, an increase in the number of con idia was observed but their morphology and number of nuclei were not m odified. The gene responsible for these alterations was named anuAl. T he anuAl gene is located on linkage group VII and is possibly involved in nuclear migration to hyphae, metulae, phialides and conidia. (C) 1 998 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.