Metabolic Aspects of Spore Germination in Fungi

Abstract

The germinating fungus spore provides excellent material for detailed studies of the emergence of a cell from dormancy, and of the events involved in the resumption of protein synthesis. Synchronization of events is good in a spore population, and can be still further improved by proper handling. The unicellular spores of fungi should prove to be rewarding subjects for studying the metabolic basis of the self-regulation of development, and perhaps also for examining the mechanisms of gene expression as they operate in a simple morphogenetic process, germination. The knowledge obtained on these fundamental problems will also contribute to an understanding of the phenomena underlying the initiation of plant infections by fungus spores and the induction of toxic responses by uncongenial hosts. There is a bibliography of 190 references.