A direct determination of nuclear distribution in heterokaryons ofAspergillus nidulans

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Abstract
A cytological study has been made, inAspergillus nidulans, of haploid and diploid homokaryons and of heterokaryons formed between them. The effective region of growth was shown to extend about 600 μ behind the growing edge of the colony and to correspond largely with the tip cells. Acridine fluorescence gave unselective staining of all nuclei; projected nuclear areas, and their distributions in individual hyphae, were determined for the homokaryons and heterokaryons. Diploid and haploid nuclei differ in mean projected area but the overlap of their size distributions precluded unequivocal classification of individual nuclei in diploid–haploid heterokaryons. However, it was shown that the hyphae of a heterokaryon differ in nuclear ratios. This, and other evidence, strongly support the suggestion that heterokaryon maintenance and adaptation occur through interhyphal rather than intrahyphal selection.

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