Protein specificity and sexual morphogenesis in Schizophyllum commune.

Soluble proteins of a number of strains of the basidiomycete Schizophyllum commune were separated on polyacrylamide gel by disc electrophoresis. The presence or absence, R(F) values, and relative intensity of protein bands, observed on gel columns and densitometric tracings, were used as criteria for analysis and comparison. Eight mycelial types were studied, namely, normal homokaryon, dikaryon, homokaryons carrying primary mutation(s) at one or both of the Abeta and Bbeta loci, and three mutant B homokaryons, each carrying a different type of modifier mutation. Similarities and dissimilarities in protein spectra among these mycelial types, observed with crude extracts, "total protein precipitates," and protein fractions, were consistent with predictions based on an earlier genetic model for the action of the two incompatibility factors known to control "sexual morphogenesis" in this fungus.