Interaction of mutations affecting tip growth and branching in Neurospora

There are at least 100 loci encoding products that influence tip growth and branching in Neurospora crassa. The functional relationships between 38 of these loci were examined by an analysis of gene interaction in double mutants. A complex range of interactions was revealed. These have been grouped into full and partial epistasis, costasis, novel phenotypes, and synthetic lethality and sublethality. Epistasis was used to construct the simplest “pathway” that accommodated the results; this pathway was Y-shaped. If synthetic sublethality is interpreted to reflect mutations in the same pathway, the sublethal connections are compatible with the chart of epistasis. The gene interactions discovered represent candidates for future cell and molecular studies on the interaction of gene products in the control of tip growth and branching.