JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY, Dec., 1966Copyright @ 1966 American Society for Microbiology

Vol. 92, No. 6Printed in U.S.A.

Golgi Apparatus of the BasidiomyceteCoprinus lagopus

BENJAMIN C. LU1Departments ofBotany and Genetics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Received for publication 23 August 1966

The presence of Golgi dictyosomes in fungiwas first demonstrated by means of electron mi-croscopy in the ascomycete Neobulgaria pura(R. T. Moore and J. H. McAlear, J. Cell Biol.16:131, 1963) and later in the phycomycetePythium debaryanum (L. E. Hawker, Nature 197:618, 1963), the rust fungus, Puccinia podophylli(R. T. Moore, J. Bacteriol 86:866, 1963), andvarious myxomycetes (M. A. McManus, Am. J.Bot. 52:15, 1965). The presence of a Golgi appa-ratus in the basidium of higher basidiomyceteshas not previously been demonstrated, and itsfunction in fungi is not known. In the present in-vestigation, a Golgi apparatus was found in thebasidium of Coprinus lagopus Fr., and its mor-phology was studied during the course of meio-sis.The Golgi apparatus of fungi was characterized

by Moore (J. Bacteriol. 86: 866, 1963). In addition,a new feature not hitherto reported for fungalmaterial was shown by this organelle in the basid-ium of Coprinus. This is observed only in medialsections (Fig. 1), where the Golgi apparatus isseen to possess a central, osmiophilic region fromwhich cisternae radiate. The adjacent cisternaeare seen to be interconnected (Fig. 2). W. P.Cunningham, D. J. Morre, and H. H. Mollen-hauer (J. Cell Biol. 28:169, 1966) recently demon-strated, by whole-mount electron microscopy,that isolated Golgi bodies from plant materialalso contain a central region from which manyinterconnecting cistemae radiate.A second point of interest noted in this ma-

terial concerns the behavior and possible role ofthe Golgi apparatus during the course of meiosis.At meiotic prophase stages, there is only onefairly small Golgi apparatus within the basidium.This was found to lie fairly close to the nucleus.The diameter of the whole Golgi apparatus (seenin Fig. 1) is approximately 0.9 to 1 Iu. Aroundthe Golgi cisternae, there are some irregularlyblebbed Golgi vesicles (Fig. 1, 2).As the nucleus entered the metaphase I of meio-

sis, the Golgi apparatus was found to undergo1 Present address: Department of Genetics, Uni-

versity of Cambridge, Milton Road, Cambridge,England.

considerable morphological changes and becomeproliferated to a size five times larger than thatfound at prophase stages (Fig. 3). The cisternaeappear to be irregularly blebbed and to include agreat number of vesicles. It was found that, in abasidium where the Golgi apparatus is prolif-erated in this way, many vesicles are seen to beclosely associated with the dividing nucleus (Fig.4). A similar proliferation of the complex wasfound in the rust Puccinia podophylli by R. T.Moore (J. Bacteriol. 86:866, 1963), although hedid not correlate the event with the nuclear be-havior, and at the metaphase stage of mitosis inthe bryophyte Anthoceros (I. Manton, J. Biophys.Biochem. Cytol. 8:221, 1960). The correlation ofthis Golgi proliferation with the onset of meioticmetaphase in Coprinus appears to be significant.If one can assume that the morphological changesobserved reflect changes of activity during thedevelopment of the basidium, one must concludethat one function of the Golgi complex of Copri-nus is related to the processes involved in nucleardivision. Because there is no evidence ofany secre-tory activity in fungal cells during meiosis, oneof the simplest explanations for the above obser-vations is that the complex is producing or assem-bling membrane materials necessary for nuclearmembrane reconstitution. This suggestion, whichhas also been advanced by Manton (J. Biophys.Biochem. Cytol. 8:221, 1960), is compatible withthe observations (i), that in the course of meiosis,two consecutive nuclear divisions take place with-in a short period of time, (ii) that the massivevesicles lie near to the dividing nucleus, and (iii)that vesicles were observed by Harris and Mazia(p. 279, in The Interpretation of Ultrastructure,R. J. C. Harris [ed.], Academic Press, Inc., NewYork, 1962) to join to form the nuclear membraneat telophase.

I express my appreciation to the Electron Micro-scope Laboratory of the Biological Sciences formaking the facilities available to me during thecourse of this investigation. Thanks are also due toG. Menges of the E. M. Laboratory for his experttechnical assistance. I am grateful to the NationalResearch Council of Canada for three consecutiveawards of Studentship.

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FIG. 1-2. Serial sections ofthe Golgi complex through the central region. It can be seen that the cisternae radiatefrom a cenitral region, and are blebbed slightly at their tips. Figure 2 represents a tangential section through theboundary of the central region, showing the continuity of adjacent cisternae (arrowed). M, mitochondria; ER,endoplasmic reticulum; G, Golgi complex. X 60,000.

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FIG. 4. Basidium of Coprinus lagopus, in which the nucleus is at meiotic metaphase I, showing Golgi vesicles(gv) in close association with the spindle zone (Spz). This is a longitudinal section of the basidium, passing throughthe spindle fibers. X 20,400.

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