Alternative methods for production and staining of Phanerochaete chrysosporium basidiospores

Abstract

Homokaryotic isolates of Phanerochaete chrysosporium are generally obtained by stimulating the production of basidiospores. The most commonly used method requires a special incubator that is maintained at 28°C with continuous illumination. Here we report an alternate method which permits the production of basidiospores with common laboratory incubators and requires no special illumination conditions. This alternate method gives reproducible results and yields basidiospores that are not contaminated with conidia. We also report a detailed optimized method for staining basidiospores for visualizing nuclei.