Maximum likelihood estimates of codon and base frequencies from observed amino acid composition of proteins were obtained based on models capable of revealing dependency between base arrangements in the three positions of a codon. Results showed that many of the proteins analysed revealed dependency between base arrangements in the first and second codon positions (first-order interaction). Also, in a number of proteins the interactions between base arrangements seemed to involve simultaneously more than one first order interaction and/or a second-order interaction (among base arrangements in the three codon positions). It was of interest to observe that the model of random base arrangements did not fit the observed amino acid data in almost all of the proteins that were analysed. More than ten amino acids contributed to this deviation from randomness.

An effective breeding policy is described for detecting linkage in the mouse, for an ante-natal lethal from crosses of heterozygotes with stocks homozygous for several linked recessive markers. A method of analysing the ensuing data is described, together with a method of estimating the map distance to close markers. A practical illustration is described, involving an ante-natal lethal obtained from a colony of wild mice and a four fold recessive chromosome 2 marker stock.

We selected a mutant Paramecium tetraurelia which does not exhibit avoiding reaction in solutions of tetraethylammonium (TEA+), a known membrane K+-channel blocker. Behavioural reaction of the mutant to Na+ solutions was also weak. The rapid successions of avoiding reactions in Ba2+ solutions were observed in both wild type and the TEA-insensitive mutant. Formal genetic analyses showed that this mutant is due to a recessive mutation. This mutation is on a gene completely unlinked to and hypostatic in different degrees to the genes for the membrane defects of ‘pawn A’, ‘pawn B’, ‘ts-pawn C’, ‘fast-2’ and ‘paranoiac A’.

Complementing diauxotrophic mutants of P. glycinea were mated in combination in which one or both mutants contained a resistance plasmid. The transfer of chromosmal markers was scored by the appearance of prototrophy at one or more of the auxotrophic loci. The resistance plasmid RP1 was equally or slightly more efficient than R6886 in the transmission of chromosomal genes.

Two reciprocal mouse translocations T(2; 8)26H and T(1; 13)70H, heterozygous in a Swiss random-bred background, show differences in the spectrum of multivalent configurations and in the segregational behaviour of these multivalent configurations. T26H/+ males mostly contained rings of four (R IV, 53·15%) and T70H/+ males chains of four, missing a chiasma in the shortest interstitial segment (C IV 11, 61·55%). The adjacent II frequency, estimated from metaphase II observations, was 8·47% in T26H/+ and 25·22% in T70H/+. Univalents of the shorter translocation chromosome of T70H are able to divide equationally at first anaphase. The hypothesis is advanced that time differences in chiasma terminalization during metaphase I-anaphase are important for explaining the difference in segregation observed between the two translocations. Translocation-caused non-disjunction is probably low in T26H/+ and 4–5% in T70H/+. Univalents involving T70H/+ are usually capable of co-orientation with the other chromosomes of the translocation complex. The summed percentages of adjacent II disjunction and non-disjunction caused by the translocations were estimated from the relative fertility scores of T/+ males and females versus +/+ males and females as 9·8% and 29·0% for T26H/+ and T70H/+ males, respectively, and 9·4% and 27·8% for T26H/+ females and T70H/+ females. For both translocations, the agreement between the various estimates is good. Chiasma frequencies are much higher in telomeric segments than in proximal segments containing centric heterochromatin.

Numbers of bristles are reduced in the dorsocentral regions of achaete Drosophila melanogaster. In achaete tissue of mosaics the effect is not uniform, and near the clone boundaries bristle numbers are significantly higher than they are elsewhere in the clone. It is argued that the cause of this non-autonomy stems from ‘factors’ that spread into the achaete clone from surrounding non-achaete cells.

Mutation tam38 of Paramecium tetraurelia is a nuclear recessive mutation with a pleiotropic effect on both trichocyst morphogenesis and nuclear processes. The analysis of the defective nuclear processes (micronuclear and macronuclear divisions, nuclear reorganization at autogamy) shows that these defects result from an abnormal localization of the nuclei. Phenocopies of tam38 abnormalities can be obtained by vinblastine treatment of wild-type cells at late stages of division. Taking into account the similarity between tam38 and a series of other mutations which also prevent trichocyst attachment to the cell surface and disturb nuclear divisions, the following interpretation is proposed: the absence of attached trichocyst induces structural changes in the plasma membrane or in the cortical region which disturb the normal cortical control of the localization of nuclei.

Two pairs of lines of mice, selected for High and Low weight at 5 weeks of age (H5 and L5) and at 10 weeks of age (H10 and L10) over 15 generations, were compared with each other and an unselected control line (QC) at three different ages, i.e. at 5, 10 and 21 weeks of age. Differences in percentage fat between High and Low lines were small at 5 weeks, clearcut at 10 weeks and at 21 weeks the High lines were almost twice as fat as the Low ones. The H5 line was slightly fatter than the H10 line at all three ages and the L10 line was fatter than the L5 line at two ages. The developmental pattern of fat deposition was unaffected by selection for high or low weight at 5 weeks, i.e. the relationship between fat weight and carcass weight was similar in the H5, L5 and QC lines. Selection at 10 weeks affected the level of fat at low carcass weights and the relative rate at which fat was subsequently deposited. The different correlated responses resulting from selection at 5 and 10 weeks are explained in terms of genetic variation in (1) the rate of food consumption, (2) the efficiency of energy utilization for growth, and (3) the relative amount of fat deposited up to the age at selection.

Selection was practised in two replicates for both high and low testis weight in the mouse. Typically 7 males were selected out of 30 recorded for a total of 5 generations. From an initial average of 191 mg the mean divergence between high and low lines reached 112 mg, with a realized heritability of 0·52. The ovulation rate of the lines changed in the same direction as that of selection, the mean divergence was 2·0 eggs in primiparous females in generation 4 and 1·6 in nulliparous females in generation 5. Correlated changes in the body weight of both sexes also occurred but were inadequate to account for the observed change in ovulation rate. The genetic regressions of ovulation rate on testis weight were estimated to be 2·9 and 14 eggs/100 mg in primiparous and nulliparous females, respectively, which, along with data from other experiments, correspond to genetic correlations between testis weight and ovulation rate of 0·50 and 0·25 respectively. There were no correlated changes in litter size. The possibility of using male testis size in breeding programmes to improve female reproductive performance is discussed.

A study of the patterns of phenotypic change in exconjugants using the recessive behavioural mutant pawn (pwA) and its wild-type allele shows that both cytoplasmic and nuclear factors contribute to phenomic lag. Following loss of the wild-type allele from the macronucleus, phenomic lag lasts for 6–11 cell cycles in various sublines of a single clone. Inherited cytoplasmic material is estimated to be responsible for phenomic lag of no more than 5–6 cell cycles. Longer persistence of the parental phenotype is due to continued gene activity in macronuclear fragments carrying the wild-type allele. Genes in fragments remain active and can result in maintenance of the parental phenotype as long as fragments are present (up to 11 cell cycles).

Phenomic lag in the other direction, from pawn to wild type, varies from 0 to 2 cell cycles. The major cytoplasmic factor involved is the amount of wild-type material acquired from the mate during conjugation. Extensive cytoplasmic exchange often occurs during normal conjugation and can lead to change of phenotype as early as the first meiotic division. Phenotypic change due to gene expression in macronuclear anlagen brings about phenotypic change near the end of the first cell cycle in +/+ cells and about a cell cycle later in heterozygotes.

Mating type in Paramecium caudatum, syngen 3 is determined by a pair of alleles with simple dominance; the recessive allele restricts homozygotes to mating type V and the dominant allele permits expression of mating type VI. Clones of mating type V never show natural selfing, but most clones of mating type VI self naturally. A mutant clone of mating type VI which never selfed over a period of more than 3 years was obtained by treatment with N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. When this mutant clone was crossed to a wild-type stock of mating type V, all F1 clones of mating type VI gave rise to selfers. From selfing of these F1 of mating type VI, clones of F2 were obtained. Nearly 3:1 segregation of selfer to non-selfer clones was observed among the F2 clones of mating type VI. The results were consistent with the interpretation that a dominant modifier gene, Su(+mtV), controls the instability in the expression of mating type VI.

The TOL(M1) metabolic plasmid was transferred from Pseudomonas arvilla mt-2 to a mutant of Pseudomonas putida. Although neither the donor nor the recipient could grow on phenol, the transconjugants could grow slowly on this carbon source. In these transconjugants phenol was converted to catechol by chromosomal encoded phenol hydroxylase followed by degradation of catechol by low uninduced levels of the plasmid encoded catechol meta cleavage pathway. A mutant, which grew well on phenol, was isolated from one of the transconjugants and it was found that phenol could now act as an inducer for the meta cleavage pathway.

A collection of Gasterosteus aculeatus from a single locality (Friant) in Madera County, California, contains individuals with low and high lateral plate morphology, and very few intermediates. Electrophoretic evidence on protein similarities at 15 genetic loci is compatible with the thesis that members of these two morphs belong to a single interbreeding population. This thesis is also supported by broods from laboratory crosses between morphs, which segregate for low and high plate counts. Laboratory crosses between Friant fish and those from geographically isolated populations often yield some progeny with intermediate plate counts. The demonstration of significantly different patterns of plate development in intralocality versus interlocality crosses evidences a contrasting genetic basis for plate determination in different populations of sticklebacks.

We have developed a recombination test in Bacillus subtilis that provides a tool for rapid genetic classification of mutants of identical phenotype. The test has been used to classify 25 ts mutants in nine recombination classes that have been proved by independent evidence to correspond to nine genetic loci.

The basis of inheritance of the extra cytoproct (XP) character in Paramecium tetraurelia, stock d4-154, is shown to be nuclear and probably a single dominant gene, Ec, with reduced penetrance in heterozygotes. When the mutant gene is replaced by its wild-type allele, loss of the XP phenotype in some lines of descent occurs before 15 cell generations, but in more than half of the lines this occurs after 15–120 or more cell generations. The possibility is considered that these extremely long and variable ‘lags’ may be due to extranuclear (cortical) inheritance of cortical changes initially produced by gene action.

Detailed physiological and genetic studies of haploid and diploid strains have revealed a complex phenotype for the rec-1 mutation in Ustilago maydis. The mutant is defective in the repair of damage by UV light, ionizing radiation and nitrosoguanidine. Four alleles are all recessive and have the same sensitivity to UV, suggesting the loss of a single cellular function. A significant fraction of non-viable cells is formed during growth, and in diploid strains considerable variation in colony size and morphology is seen. The spontaneous frequency of mutation is greater than in wild-type cells, but there is little, if any, enhancement by irradiation.

rec-1 also has pleiotropic effects on genetic recombination. The spontaneous level of mitotic allelic or non-allelic recombination is abnormally high, but the relative increase after irradiation is much lower than in control diploids. Allelic recombination is strongly associated with the expression of a hetozygous recessive distal marker, and it is shown that this is often due to hemizygosity rather than to homozygosity of this marker. The results indicate that allelic recombination is due to crossing over rather than gene conversion, but that the cross over is often associated with a chromatid break. rec-1 interacts with other radiation sensitive mutants, such as rec-2. Diploids homozygous for both are totally deficient in allelic recombination. In crosses between rec-1 strains meiosis is defective, with a low viability of meiotic products and frequent production of aneuploids or diploids among the survivors. The overall phenotype of rec-1 strains can best be explained in terms of the loss of a regulatory function, which leads to uncontrolled recombination during mitosis and meiosis, and the loss of a recombination repair pathway which is normally induced by agents which damage DNA.

Mutations have been detected which affect the production of protoperithecia in Sordaria brevicollis. These mutations have been called perithecial-1 and perithecial-2. Ascus analysis revealed that the former was a centromere unlinked gene, whilst the latter was very close to the mating-type locus. The per 1−per 2− genotype was female sterile. Recovery of fertility by a sterile culture occurred and perithecial analysis revealed that this recovery was due to the accumulation of revertant per 1+ nuclei in the mycelium. Per l−per 2+ colonies were fertile and gave a cross of characteristic appearance.

Caedobacter taeniospiralis (kappa), a bacterial endosymbiont isolated from Paramecium tetraurelia stock 51, contains, in addition to the bacterial chromosome, covalently closed circular DNA molecules as shown by isolation on dye-buoyant-density gradients. The closed circular molecule has a contour length of 13·75 ± 0·04 µm with a buoyant density of 1·698 g/cm3. The buoyant density of the bacterial chromosome is 1·700–1·701 g/cm3. Kappa of the 51 group isolated from stock 298 and stock 6g2, P. tetraurelia, also contain the closed circular DNA. Two forms of kappa coexist in paramecia: brights and nonbrights. Examination by density-gradient centrifugation of the DNA of brights and nonbrights shows the extrachromosomal DNA to be associated mainly with brights. It is suggested that the extrachromosomal DNA might be the determinant for the refractile bodies and the helical phage-like structures found in brights.