Promotion of Perithecial Initials in Monacrosporium doedycoides by 6-Methyl Purine

Abstract

The promotion of perithecial initials in the imperfect fungus Monacrosporium doedycoides is enhanced by the addition of the RNA synthesis inhibitor 6‐methyl purine (6‐MP). The addition of two other RNA inhibitors (8‐azaguanine and actinomycin‐D) causes the promotion of initials but not at the magnitude observed with 6‐MP. Application of a protein synthesis inhibitor (cycloheximide), a base analog (5‐fluorouracil), or an amino acid analog (p‐fluorophenyl‐alanine) are not promotive on initial formation and can be inhibitory. The apparent cause for the promotion of perithecial initials in the imperfect fungus is that sexual structures are inhibited by mRNA's synthesized by the organism and the addition of 6‐MP prohibits their synthesis.