Bsn-t Alleles from French Field Strains of Agaricus bisporus

In the Agaricus bisporus desert population in California, the dominant Bsn-t allele determines the production of tetrasporic basidia and homokaryotic spores (n) that characterize a heterothallic life cycle. Strains belonging to a French population have the Bsn-b/b genotype that results in bisporic basidia that produce heterokaryotic spores (n + n) which characterize a pseudohomothallic life cycle. More recombination occurs in the tetrasporic population than in the bisporic population. In France, tetrasporic strains are rare. For two such isolates, Bs 261 and Bs 423, we determined the life cycle, the heritability of the tetrasporic trait, the amount of variation in the recombination rate, and the haploid fruiting ability. We found that (i) Bs 261 was heterothallic, (ii) Bs 423 was homokaryotic and homothallic, (iii) Bs 261 was Bsn-t/b, (iv) recombination on a segment of chromosome I depended on the genotype at BSN, (v) some of the homokaryotic offspring of Bs 261 and all of the progeny of Bs 423 were able to fruit, (vi) Bs 261 and Bs 423 were closely related, and (vii) Bs 423 was partially intersterile with other strains of the species.