Neurospora crassa was one of the first eukaryotic microbes to be adopted by geneticists as a model organism. It is a haploid fungus (n = 7) found growing on dead vegetation. When an assexual spore germinates, it produces a tubular structure that extends rapidy by tip growth, and throws off multiple side branches. The result is a mass of branched threads called hyphae, which consitute a colony. a) Give two reasons why Neurospora crassa lends itself well to its use as a model organism. b) Two albino strains of Neurospora crassa were isolated. When either one was mated with wild type (pink), it produced ½ albino and ½ wild-type. What can you deduce about the mutations on each of the albino strains? Your Answer:

After examining the example given in the question on Neurospora crassa and the details about how they reproduce, the following points can be made regarding the questions;

A) It is stated that they form a colony in time and that they are asexual spores and the first reason to choose them would be because they contain somatic cells (which refer to the cells other than reproductive cells) and non-motile gonidia which can multiply by dividing themselves and these properties make the colony's maintenance easy. And since they multiply by division, it is easier to keep track of the occuring mutations.

B) Given the information in the question that the mating is between an albino strain and a wild type, and then between two albino strains which have the same genotype. The results indicate that the strains have gone through single gene mutation during the process.

I hope this answer helps.

olaoluagboola olaoluagboola · Answer 2 · 2020-02-06T10:21:53+01:00

Answer:

a) Neurospora crassa lends itself well to its use as a model organism due to this two reasons:

-It is asexual.

It can reproduce in the absence of a partner. This characteristic nature makes it inexpensive to use.

-It shows rapid growth rate.

This nature makes it easy to study how it reproduce and its mutations without the need to wait a prolonged time for the maturation of offspring.

b) we can deduce about the mutations on each of the albino strains as each one of it is a singular gene mutation. Multiple gene mutations will lead to reduced wild type progeny.