Genetic Control of Biochemical Reactions in Neurospora

Abstract

By means of x-rays, mutant strains were induced in Neurospora which are characterized by their inability to carry out specific biochemical processes. In one the ability to synthesize vitamin B6 is largely or wholly lost; in another strain the ability to synthesize the thiazole half of the vitamin B1 molecule is absent; in the 3d, para-aminobenzoic acid is not synthesized. Inability to synthesize vitamin B6 is apparently differentiated by a single gene from the ability of the organism to elaborate this essential growth substance. It was later established that inability to synthesize both thiazole and p-aminobenzoic acid is also inherited as though differentiated from normal by single genes.