A search for synaptonemal complexes in Ustilago maydis.

Germinating spores, germ-tubes (promycelia), gall tissue and spores developing in the gall were examined. No synaptonemal complexes (SCs) were found in any of these cell types. There are 3 possible explanations for this: (1) Ustilago maydis does not have SCs. This is the case in Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Olson, Eden, Egel-Mitani & Egel, 1978) and in many strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (e.g. see Byers & Goetch, 1975). (2) The SC might occur in spores either in the gall or before germination when the spore wall was too solid to allow examination of the contents by the methods used. (3) The SC was present, but for a very short time, and most of the cells examined were in any case not undergoing meiosis, so the SCs were not seen. (Large numbers of spores were examined, but few spores germinate and undergo normal meiotic division; also a minority of the cells in the gall are forming spores at any one time.) The gall was found to contain uninucleate single cells (i.e. it is a yeast, as it is in artificial culture medium) and virtually all these cells were haploid, 1 in 3000 recovered cells was diploid. It appears that the haploids fuse to form a heterokaryotic or diploid cell immediately before spore formation. A heterokaryotic phase is presumed to exist to establish and maintain the infection.