Ascus development in two temperature-sensitive four-spore mutants of Neurospora crassa

Two nonallelic Four-spore mutants are known in which ascospore walls enclose the four immediate products of meiosis rather than the normal eight products of a postmeiotic mitosis. Expression depends on temperature. The Four-spore phenotype is expressed when the developing asci are subjected either to high temperatures (25-30 degrees C) for Fsp-1 or to low temperatures (15-20 degrees C) for Fsp-2. Heterozygous Fsp-1 X Fsp-1+ crosses make eight-spored asci at 15-20 degrees C but produce many four-spored asci at 25 degrees C and mostly four-spored asci at 30 degrees C. Homozygous Fsp-1 X Fsp-1 crosses respond similarly to increasing temperature but make 40-50% four-spored asci even at 20 degrees C. Heterozygous Fsp-2 X Fsp-2+ crosses produce almost exclusively four-spored asci at 15 degrees C but a mixture of four- and eight-spored asci at 20, 25, and 30 degrees C. Homozygous Fsp-2 X Fsp-2 crosses make all four-spored asci at 15 and 20 degrees C and a mixture of four- and eight-spored asci at 25 and 30 degrees C. When both Fsp-1 and Fsp-2 are present in a cross, either homozygous or heterozygous, no asci contain more than four ascospores at any temperature. Limited temperature-shift experiments with Fsp-1 and Fsp-2 show that the sensitive period for Four-spore expression is sometime after meiotic prophase, possibly at interphase II.