JOURNAL OF BACrERIOLOGY, May 1972, p. 739-742 Copyright © 1972 American Society for Microbiology Vol. 110, No. 2 Printed in U.S.A. NOTES Golgi Apparatus in the Postmeiotic Basidium of Coprinus lagopus DAVID J. McLAUGHLIN Department of Botany, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 Received for publication 3 February 1972 A golgi apparatus believed to be involved in basidiospore formation has been found in Coprinus lagopus following meiosis in the basidium. A golgi apparatus has not previously been reported in postmeiotic basidia of Coprinus lagopus sensu Buller (2, 5, 6), although this organelle, consisting of a single dictyosome, has been convincingly demonstrated in the vegetative stage of a number of Basidiomy- cetes (3, 4). This paper describes a golgi appa- ratus in the postmeiotic basidium of C. Ia- gopus which may be involved in basidiospore formation. Fruitbodies were obtained by crossing strains BC 9/55 and BC 9/66 on 50 ml of a modification of Brodie's (1) medium and incu- bating at 32 C for 4 to 6 days in darkness and then at 25.5 ± 1 C with 12 hr of light per day. A crop of fruitbodies in a flask matured si- multaneously, and basidial development was related to the light cycle. Two stages were studied in the electron microscope: prophase I of meiosis at 3 hr and early interphase II of meiosis at 7 hr after the beginning of the light cycle the day before fruitbody maturation. Pieces of gill were fixed in 1% aqueous KMnO4 for 30 min at about 23 C, dehydrated in ace- tone, and Epon-embedded. At early interphase II, when basidiospore formation began (spores up to 2 ,m diameter), dictyosomes were easily detected, and distinc- tive vesicles (usually 75 to 95 nm diameter) were numerous in the basidia and basidio- spores (Fig. 1-4). Vesicles appeared to form on cisternae and on tubular elements of the dic- tyosome. At prophase I, a golgi apparatus was difficult to detect and vesicles were absent. At this stage, Lu (6) reported one small golgi ap- paratus per basidium. The dictyosomes at in- terphase II consisted of a single cisternum (Fig. 1, 4, 6) as reported in other Basidiomy- cetes (4, 5), and there was an extensive endo- plasmic reticulum present which was con- nected to the nuclear membrane and appar- ently was associated with the golgi apparatus as reported in other organisms (7). The num- erous vesicles present in basidiospores were not seen clearly to fuse with the plasma mem- brane, although this may occur. A light microscope, cytochemical study of glycol methacrylate-embedded material (un- published data) showed carbohydrates stained by the periodic acid-Schiff reaction at early interphase II which were not removed from the basidium by malt diastase (analytical, Nutri- tional Biochemical Corp.). Glycogen was re- moved from the hymenium by this treatment, and the remaining cytoplasmic carbohydrates which were confined to the basidia were prob- ably in the golgi vesicles. After using the peri- odic acid-silver hexamine technique (8, 9) for ultrastructural localization of carbohydrates, only areas of the basidia presumed to contain carbohydrates reacted, specifically walls, septal swellings, glycogen, and golgi vesicles (Fig. 5 and 6). I am indebted to Mary Pelvit and Rodney Kuehn for technical assistance and to the Graduate School, University of Minnesota, for financial support. Publication costs were partly borne by the Hayden Fund, University of Minnesota. 739 on November 18, 2020 by guest http://jb.asm.org/ Downloaded from