Genetics of Ascospore Color in Sordaria

Introduction:
To achieve genetic experiments with haploid organisms, genetic strains of different genotypes must be crossed from one another. Following fertilization and meiosis, the meiotic products can be analyzed as the ascomycete fungus, Sordaria fimicola. Sordaria can be used as a model to study meiotic segregation. The trait followed was the ascospore color. Ascospore color is a single gene trait therefore it is easily observed under a light microspore. Which allele is dominant is very tough to say, because dominant and recessive does not apply in this case. …