Multiple mating types of Mycobacterium smegmatis.

Multiple mating systems were found in the strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis. Nineteen wild type strains were classified into five different groups according to their mating behavior. All crosses between substrains derived from the same wild type strain or between substrains belonging to the same group were infertile, while eight different intergroup crosses were fertile. It was suggested that in most of the fertile crosses, chromosome transfer was unidirectional. Genes controlling matings were resistant to curing by acridine dye, sodium dodecyl sulfate and higher temperature suggesting that they were chromosomal genes. However, the location of these genes could not be demonstrated because none of the chromosomal markers tested was found to be linked to these mating genes.