Mutagen specificity in conversion pattern inSordaria brevicollis

Abstract
SUMMARY: A total of 39 mutants at thegrey-3,grey-4andgrey-5spore colour loci inSordaria brevicollishave been investigated for conversion pattern by crossing them with wild type and counting aberrant asci. Twenty-one of the mutants were obtained with ICR170 and all showed postmeiotic segregation only rarely (0–8% of the aberrant asci); two showed conversion predominantly to wild type (class A) and the other 19 predominantly to mutant (class B). Six mutants were obtained with ethylmethane sulphonate and one with nitrosoguanidine, and they all showed postmeiotic segregation frequently (14–54% of the aberrant asci) and conversion usually about equally frequently in each direction, though with considerable diversity between mutants (class C). Eleven UV-induced mutants comprised one of class B and ten of class C. There was considerable variation in aberrant ascus frequency between alleles, but conversion pattern seemed to be independent of this frequency.