Adenosine 3',5' cyclic monophosphate and morphology in Neurospora crassa: drug induced alterations

Abstract

Grown in liquid culture in the presence of a variety of structurally unrelated drugs, mycelia of wild type Neurospora assume a colonial or semicolonial growth habit similar to that of known morphological mutants. Drugs that produce these morphological changes include atropine, theophylline, histamine, and several of the quinoline containing antimalarials. Each of these drugs decrease the endogenous adenosine 3',5' cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) concentration of mycelia as a result of their effect on the activity of adenyl cyclase, the cAMP dependent phosphodiesterase, or both. The evidence indicates a relationship between the degree of morphological abnormality, the degree to which intracellular cAMP is reduced, and the action of the drugs on the adenyl cyclase and phosphodiesterase.