A system for the detection of chromosomal rearrangements using Sordaria macrospora

Chromosome rearrangements in Neurospora and other filamentous fungi

Knowledge of fungal chromosome rearrangements comes primarily from N. crassa, but important information has also been obtained from A. nidulans and S. macrospora. Rearrangements have been identified in other Sordaria species and in Cochliobolus, Coprinus, Magnaporthe, Podospora, and Ustilago. In Neurospora, heterozygosity for most chromosome rearrangements is signaled by the appearance of unpigmented deficiency ascospores, with frequencies and ascus types that are characteristic of the type of rearrangement. Summary information is provided on each of 355 rearrangements analyzed in N. crassa. These include 262 reciprocal translocations, 31 insertional translocations, 27 quasiterminal translocations, 6 pericentric inversions, 1 intrachromosomal transposition, and numerous complex or cryptic rearrangements. Breakpoints are distributed more or less randomly among the seven chromosomes. Sixty of the rearrangements have readily detected mutant phenotypes, of which half are allelic with known genes. Constitutive mutations at certain positively regulated loci involve rearrangements having one breakpoint in an upstream regulatory region. Of 11 rearrangements that have one breakpoint in or near the NOR, most appear genetically to be terminal but are in fact physically reciprocal. Partial diploid strains can be obtained as recombinant progeny from crosses heterozygous for insertional or quasiterminal rearrangements. Duplications produced in this way precisely define segments that cover more than two thirds of the genome. Duplication-producing rearrangements have many uses, including precise genetic mapping by duplication coverage and alignment of physical and genetic maps. Typically, fertility is greatly reduced in crosses parented by a duplication strain. The finding that genes within the duplicated segment have undergone RIP mutation in some of the surviving progeny suggests that RIP may be responsible for the infertility. Meiotically generated recessive-lethal segmental deficiencies can be rescued in heterokaryons. New rearrangements are found in 10% or more of strains in which transforming DNA has been stably integrated. Electrophoretic separation of rearranged chromosomal DNAs has found useful applications. Synaptic adjustment occurs in inversion heterozygotes, leading progressively to nonhomologous association of synaptonemal complex lateral elements, transforming loop pairing into linear pairing. Transvection has been demonstrated in Neurospora. Beginnings have been made in constructing effective balancers. Experience has increased our understanding of several phenomena that may complicate analysis. With some rearrangements, nondisjunction of centromeres from reciprocal translocation quadrivalents results in 3:1 segregation and produces asci with four deficiency ascospores that occupy diagnostic positions in linear asci. Three-to-one segregation is most frequent when breakpoints are near centromeres. With some rearrangements, inviable deficiency ascospores become pigmented. Diagnosis must then depend on ascospore viability. In crosses between highly inbred strains, analysis may be handicapped by random ascospore abortion. This is minimized by using noninbred strains as testers.

Three-to-one segregation from reciprocal translocation quadrivalents in Neurospora and its bearing on the interpretation of spore-abortion patterns in unordered asci

In Neurospora, viable ascospores become black (B) when mature, whereas ascospores that are deficient for a chromosome segment are inviable and usually fail to blacken. The presence of a chromosome rearrangement can be recognized and the type of rearrangement can usually be inferred by visual inspection of asci. When a cross is heterozygous for a reciprocal translocation, asci with eight black ascospores (8B:0W) and asci with eight abortive unpigmented ("white" (W)) ascospores (0B:8W) are theoretically produced in equal numbers if homologous centromeres are equally likely to segregate from the quadrivalent in alternate or adjacent modes. In addition, 4B:4W asci are produced with a frequency characteristic of each reciprocal translocation. Information on ascospore-abortion patterns in Neurospora crassa has come predominantly from unordered ascospore octads ejected from the perithecium. Unordered asci of the 4B:4W type were initially presumed to originate by interstitial crossing over in a centromere-breakpoint interval and their frequency was used as a predictor of centromere locations. However, 4B:4W asci can result not only from interstitial crossing over but also from nondisjunction of centromeres at the first meiotic division, which leads to 3:1 segregation. Ordered linear 4B:4W asci retain the sequence information necessary for distinguishing one mode of origin from the other but unordered asci do not. Crossing over results in one abortive duplication-deficiency ascospore pair in each opposite half of a linear ascus, while 3:1 segregation places both abortive ascospore pairs together, either in the distal half or the basal half of the ascus. In the present study, perithecia were opened and intact linear asci were examined in crosses heterozygous for a varied sample of translocations. Three-to-one segregation rather than interstitial crossing over is apparently the main cause of 4B:4W asci when breakpoints are near centromeres, whereas crossing over is responsible for most or all 4B:4W asci when breakpoints are far-distal. Three-to-one segregation does not impair the usefulness of ejected unordered asci for detecting chromosome rearrangements. Ejected octads are superior to ordered linear asci for distinguishing one type of rearrangement from another, because ascus ejection from the perithecium does not occur until viable ascospores are fully pigmented, enabling true 0B:8W asci to be distinguished from those with eight immature ascospores.

Indirect intergenic suppression of a radiosensitive mutant of Sordaria macrospora defective in sister-chromatid cohesiveness

Six ultra violet (UV) mutageneses were performed on the spo76 UV-sensitive mutant of Sordaria macrospora. Spo76 shows an early centromere cleavage associated with an arrest at the first meiotic division and therefore does not form ascospores. Moreover, it exhibits altered pairing structure (synaptonemal complex), revealing a defect in the sister-chromatid cohesiveness. From 37 revertants which partially restored sporulation, 34 extragenic suppressors of spo76 were isolated. All suppressors are altered in chromosomal pairing but, unlike spo76, show a wild type centromere cleavage. The 34 suppressors were assigned to six different genes and mapped. Only one of the suppressor genes is involved in repair functions.