Phenol oxidases and morphogenesis in Podospora anserina.

HE question of the relation between melanin synthesis and morphogenesis Thas been raised previously. HIRSCH 1954 and WESTERGAARD and HIR~CH 1954 concluded from their experiments with a wild-type strain of Neurospora crassa that the melanin pigments or the enzyme tyrosinase, a phenol oxidase which is responsible for the first steps in melanin synthesis, play a role in the formation of the protoperithecia. Further investigation of this question demonstrated that female sterile mutants of N . crassa have lost to a considerable degree the ability to form tyrosinase (BARBESGAARD and WAGNER 1959). The fact that the mutants do not form protoperithecia even when tyrosinase formation is triggered by induction (HOROWITZ et al. 1960), however, does not suggest a direct correlation between tyrosinase activity or melanin synthesis and morphogenesis.