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The regulatory effect of two oxyderivatives of unsaturated fatty acids (oxylipins), 18-hydroxy-(9Z,12Z)-octadecadienoic acid (18-HODE) and 18-(9Z,12Z,15Z)-octadecatrienoic acid (18-HOTrE), on the sexual and asexual sporulation of wild-type Neurospora crassa strains and wc-1 and wc-1 mutants was studied. In the wild-type strain, 18-HODE, unlike 18-HOTrE, stimulated protoperithecia formation in the dark and in the light. In the same strain, the studied oxylipins influenced conidiagenesis only under illumination. 18-HODE stimulated and 18-HOTrE inhibited the conidia formation. Oxylipins had no effect on protoperithecia formation in photoreceptor complex mutants, which apparently indicated its involvement in signal transmission in N. crassa. The stimulating action of the studied oxylipins on conidiagenesis in wc-1 and the lack of action in wc-2 may indicate alternative signaling pathways of oxylipins in this process.

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The effect of carbon dioxide on survivability of bacteria Escherichia coli and the germination ability ofconidia of the fungus Neurospora crassa in the presence of silver nitrate was studied. It was shown that carbon dioxide increased the toxic effect of silver ions on prokaryotic cells of E. coli but did not change the survivability of spores of the eukaryote N. crassa.

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A simple modification of a spectrophometric method was proposed for the rapid detection of microorganisms based on their ability either to excrete or to absorb volatile compounds. The method provides the possibility of contactless control for bacterial growth at a concentration above 10(7) cells/ml. In addition, the method allows discriminating mutants of the fungus Neurospora crassa defective in the nitrogen metabolism from the wild type strains. It is likely that nitrite reductase and nitrate reductase enzymes regulated by the nit-2 and nit-6 genes are involved in formation of the water soluble volatile compounds of this organism.

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The Neurospora crassa mutants nit-2 (lacking both nitrite and nitrate reductases) and nit-6 (lacking nitrite reductase) grown in the medium with ammonium chloride as a sole source of nitrogen discharged nitrate and nitrite ions into culture medium. For nit-2, the content of nitrate exceeded that of nitrite in both the homogenate of fungal cells and growth medium; moreover, this difference was more pronounced in the culture medium. Unlike nit-2, the content of nitrite in the cultivation medium of the nit-6 mutant irradiated with visible light for 30 min during the lag phase of carotenogenesis photoinduction displayed a trend of increase as compared with the dark control. Further (to 240 min) irradiation of cells, i.e., irradiation during biosynthesis of carotenoid pigments, leveled this difference.

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Under the conditions of nitrogen starvation, illumination by blue light of wc-1 and wc-2 mutants of the ascomycete Neurospora crassa failed to stimulate the formation of protoperithecia and inhibit conidiation (contrary to what was observed in the mycelium of the wild-type fungus). The data obtained indicate that wc-1 and wc-2 genes of N. crassa are involved in light-dependent formation of protoperithecia and conidia. The effects of 5-azacytidine (an inhibitor of DNA methylation) under the same experimental conditions suggest that the balance between the formation of sexual and asexual reproductive structures, maintained in N. crassa, depends on genome methylation processes sensitive to the action of light, which is mediated by the photoreceptor complex of WC proteins.

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The specific activity of lipoxygenase from several strains of the zygomycete Mortierella varied from 1.02 to 2.02 microMol diene per min per mg protein). The enzyme equally used linoleic or arachidonic acid as a substrate. An increase in lipoxygenase activity was observed after adding corn oil to the culture medium. Tests with inhibitors having different chemical structures revealed that the lipoxygenase activity from Mortierella cells was inhibited only by esculetin, ethanol and nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA). NDGA inhibited the enzyme in vitro (IC50 = 142 microM), but its addition in the exponential phase of growth activated the enzyme.

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The effect of inhibitors of DNA methylation on light-sensitive developmental stages of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa was studied. Under conditions of nitrogen starvation, when blue light induced protoperithecia development and inhibited conidia formation, 5-azacytidine (3-300 microM) inhibited protoperithecia formation and stimulated conidia formation (a 700-fold increase after light induction). After treatment of the mycelium with 5-azacytidine, the protoperithecia formation was accompanied by inversely proportional changes in the formation of conidia, both in the dark and after illumination. In the mycelium cultivated on the Vogel's medium, 5-azacytidine (up to 30 microM) and methotrexate (up to 3 microM) stimulated the light-induced carotenoid synthesis by 30%, whereas higher concentrations of these agents were toxic to carotenoid synthesis and growth.

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Measurable levels of activity of NAD+ kinases of actinomycetes Micrococcus luteus and Corynebacterium ammoniagenes were observed after substituting inorganic tripolyphosphate for ATP, whereas the enzyme from the eubacterium Escherichia coli was not active with this substrate. Gradient PAGE found two molecular isoforms of NAD+ kinase in C. ammoniagenes and E. coli; four forms were found in M. luteus. All isoforms of this enzyme found in C. ammoniagenes and M. luteus displayed a NADP-synthesizing activity in the presence of either ATP or tripolyphosphate. Because of its capability of utilizing inorganic tripolyphosphate, M. luteus is the most promising NADP producer organism.

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