Genetics of chemical induction of conjugation in Paramecium aurella

Certain stocks of P. aurelia, syngen 8, could not be induced to conjugate in a solution (KCl + acriflavine + calcium-poor conditions) which was effective in inducing conjugation in other species of Paramecium as well as in other stocks of syngen 8. Both stocks could conjugate by interaction with cells of complementary mating type. Breeding analysis shows that each of the two stocks is homozygous for a recessive gene that blocks induction of conjugation by the KCl-acriflavine solution. These two genes are neither allelic nor linked. Analyses of the phenotypes of the two uninducibles and the wild type were carried out by attempting to induce mating in cells of a single mating type by exposing them to detached mating-reactive cilia from cells of complementary mating type and to the KCl-acriflavine solution, either sequentially or simultaneously. The results confirm the conclusions of others that there is at least one unique step in chemical induction not shared with induction by interaction of complementary mating types. But the results also indicate that there is more than one unique step in chemical induction and that the effects of the two genes described here operate during different periods of the hour required for chemical induction.