ELECTROPHORETIC STUDIES OF CARPOPHORE DEVELOPMENT IN THE BASIDIOMYCETE COPRINUS CINEREUS

SUMMARY Acrylamide gel electrophoresis was used to resolve buffer-soluble proteins and enzymes extracted from tissues of Coprimis cinereus. The electrophoretograms of proteins of two related but compatible monokaryons differed from one another, and both differed from the electrophoretogram of the dikarvon made by crossing the monokaryons together. The electrophoretogram of the youngest carpophore primordia was markedly different from that of the dikaryon on which they were produced, and the protein spectrum of both cap and stipe altered as the tissues matured. The protein electrophoretic pattern observed in the cap was always different from that of the stipe on which the cap was borne. However, when carpophores of quite different dikaryons were compared it was found that differences between the strains were so considerable that it was not possible to identify features common to a particular tissue or structure. Variation was also found in respect of isozyme patterns even though only two quite closely related monokaryons were compared. In the case of two enzyme activities (malate dehydrogenase and NADPH-dehydrogenase) the monokaryons exhibited different numbers of isozymes, and in a further three (alcohol dehydrogenase, NADH-dehydrogenase and esterase) there were clear differences in the way in which the isozyme pattern in each monokaryon related to the period of growth. The dikaryon was not associated with any predictable change in the isozyme pattern, but in all cases the dikaryon was in some way different from the parental monokaryons. Further differences were observed in carpophore tissues: in all cases the carpophore differed from its parental dikaryon. In most cases this difference was expressed as a distinctive developmental pattern of isozymes which were also detectable in mycelium; and in this the cap was often quite different from the stipe. However, for alcohol dehydrogenase and esterase, extracts of carpophore tissues possessed isozymes not detectable in extracts of mycelia.