Comparison of ultraviolet and blacklight for the induction of nutritional independence at two loci in Neurospora crassa.

The inactivating effects of both near ultraviolet (blacklight) and shortwave ultraviolet (UV) have been investigated for two auxotrophic strains of Neurospora crassa. The two strain were indistinguishable with respect to their sensitivity to inactivation by blacklight, but differed in their sensitivity to UV (DEF congruent to 1.3-1.6 at 0.1 survival). The strains each carried an allele of different genes previously demonstrated as being capable of mutation in response to UV. The results confirm the mutability of these alleles, but reveal that within the population densities investigated mutations to nutritional independence by blacklight were undetectable.