Sordaria Lab Report

The Effect of Environmental Conditions on The Crossover Frequency in

Sordaria Fimicola
Introduction
The general consensus of recombination and genetic crossovers
(the exchange of genetic material between homologous chromosomes
during meiosis) is that they are random. However, there may be a
difference in crossover frequency of Sordaria on the two sides of the
Evolution Canyon located in Israel, which seems to say that it is
possible the differences in each environment could have impacted the
change. The two slopes are very different; one being hot and dry (the
south-facing side) and while the other is humid and wet (the northfacing side). Prior studies say that there was a greater difference in
crossover frequencies between slopes than from other areas on the
same slope. Studies showed that the south-facing side (SFS) had
higher recombination than the north-facing side (NFS) (Meiosis and
Genetic Diversity in the Model Organism, Sordaria pg. 35). Thus
leading to the potential hypothesis that varying environmental
conditions may affect the frequency of crossing over.
To test this, it is important to know the frequency of
recombination when in standard, non-varying conditions to compare
the data to the data retrieved from the Evolution Canyon (pg. 36). The
possible asci that can occur when Sordaria reproduce are variations of

tan and black with three ratios, 4:4, 2:2:2:2, and 2:4:2 (pg. 48-51).
Each of these different types of asci can form based on the crossovers
that occur in meiosis. During prophase 1 of meiosis, homologous
chromosomes line up with each other before they are split apart, one
chromosome coming from the father and the other coming from the
mother. Before they are split, there is a phenomenon called
recombination that occurs, where certain genes from nonsister
chromatids will switch with the same genes from its partner. This
means that the chromosome given from the mother will also contain
genes from the father, creating a genotype and phenotype that is a
combination of the two, and not simply a direct copy of one parent.
Once recombination occurs and meiosis completes itself, the four
daughter cells go through mitosis that replicates the formed
chromosome and create eight colored spores that demonstrate the
spore color patterns.
There were many questions that were contemplated before
beginning this experiment. To have an original frequency to compare
our experiment to we needed to ask; what is the cross over frequency
between spore colors in standard environmental conditions? To
actually formulate a result; what combinations of spore color
frequencies would show that crossing-over occurred? The last
question that was considered, and the most basic of them, was what

are the challenges around actually performing this experiment? (pg.

37)
Based on simple meiosis diagrams and calculations, we could tell
that a ratio of 4:4 tan to black asci mean that there was no crossover in
meiosis. This is because the tan chromosomes and the black
chromosomes would be kept separate, and so they would not mix and
therefor create two rows, one solely black and one solely tan.
However, 2:4:2 and 2:2:2:2 meant that there was a crossover that
occurred in the chromosomes, because some alleles coding for tan
were mixed with some alleles coding for black when the chromosomes
crossed over, thus the colors were mixed partially when the spores
emerged. To determine whether there is a change in crossover
frequency, we compared the amount of recombinant asci (fruiting body
containing the asci) to the amount of non-recombinant asci. (pg. 4851)

Methods
Crosses were prepared by placing two tan hyphae and two black
hyphae on a plat of agar (pg. 42). They were placed in a pattern of
four, so that each color is only adjacent to the other. This allowed
them to grow and come in contact with one another, and form multiple
different asci for examination. After allowing the Sordaria to interact
and grow for two weeks, an inoculating loop was used to scrape some

of the Sordaria from the agar plate. Then we placed it onto a slide,
preparing the squash by putting the Sordaria scraping into a drop of
water and placing a coverslip overtop of it (pg. 56).
The squash was placed under a microscope for examination.
After locating an appropriate sample of asci, we counted up to twenty
total perithecia, and recorded the amount present of each possible
ratio of colored asci. Then we added our total to the courses total. To
get the genetic map distances between the genes, we divided the
amount of recombinants by the total amount of offspring, and then
divided that by two (pg. 58).

Results
Bio 110 Course Sordaria Data (pg. 58)
Sordaria Data Tables From Individual, Group, Class, and Course
4:4 Amount

2:4:2 Amount

2:2:2:2 Amount

Total Asci

Individual

Individual

Individual

Individual

2:4:2/Total

35%

2:2:2:2/Total

30%

Total

20
Total Recombinant

Recombinant

Frequency

Asci

65%

13

4:4 Amount

2:4:2 Amount

2:2:2:2 Amount

Total Asci Small

Small Group

Small Group

Small Group

Group

13
2:4:2/Total

16
2:2:2:2/Total

13
Total

42
Total Recombinant

16/42

13/42

Recombinant

Frequency

Asci

29/42

38%

31%

69%
29

4:4 Amount

2:4:2 Amount

2:2:2:2 Amount

Total Asci Class

Class

Class

Class

165

179

524

180
2:4:2/Total

2:2:2:2/Total

Total

Total Recombinant

165/524

179/524

Recombinant

Frequency

Asci
31.5%

34.2%

65.8%
344

4:4 Amount

2:4:2 Amount

2:2:2:2 Amount

Total Asci Course

Course

Course

Course

26178

10512
2:4:2/Total

7811
2:2:2:2/Total

7855
Total

Total Recombinant

7811/26178

7855/26178

Recombinant

Frequency

Asci

(7811+7855)/261

30%

30%

78
15666

60%

Crossing over does occur between the spore color gene and the
centromere, as represented by the recombinant outcomes (2:2:2:2 and
2:4:2) (pg. 58). The total crossover frequency was determined to be
60% for the Sordaria organisms under standard laboratory conditions
([7811+7855]/26178). The calculated map distance between the
spore color gene and the centromere, based on the Sordaria results
was 30 mapping units, or 30 centiMorgans (60/2). This was
determined by dividing the 60 mapping units determined by the total
crossover count by two, accounting for both crossover possibilities of
2:4:2 and 2:2:2:2 which depend on what chromosomes participated in
crossing over, which depends on how the chromosomes were located
(directly on top of each other for 2:2:2:2 or next to each other for
2:4:2). We know that the 60% can be called 60 mapping units thanks
to previous scientific works, which declared that to find the distance
between the centromere and the gene, you divide the amount of
recombinant offspring by the total amount of offspring (pg. 59).

Discussion (pg. 34-37)

Based on the results of the experiment, the distance between
the gene for spore color and the centromere in a Sordaria is about 30
mapping units. This means that there is potential for the environment

to be the factor that is changing the frequency of recombination in the

Evolution Canyon, because this experiment can be used to
demonstrate that the canyon recombination frequencies are different
from the normal frequencies of Sordaria under laboratory conditions
(pg. 34-37). This was a very basic experiment and so there were no
unexpected findings, we were simply finding the normal Sordaria
crossover frequencies. As for continued study, using the mapping
distance found for the spore color gene under standard conditions,
more experiments could be done under other environmental conditions
that could determine whether the crossover frequency changes based
solely on the influence of the environment.
One Evolution Canyon cannot be the sole basis for determining
whether the environment affects recombination. Other environments
must be tested, enough so as to remove within a shadow of a doubt
the possibility that the environment does not make a difference (pg.
58, 59). There are many experiments that need to be done before we
can say that the environment influences Sordarias genetic crossovers,
and maybe there are underlying factors that contribute as well such as
potentially access to sunlight or heat or a certain element. The
environment might not be the only source of change for the
frequencies. There are many potential experiments to be performed
with this data, like perhaps we could examine to see if temperature
alone was what caused the frequency change, or sunlight alone. So to

conclude, this experiment has determined that the recombination

frequency of Sordaria under normal laboratory conditions is 30%.

Works Cited
Meiosis and Genetic Diversity in the Model Organism, Sordaria. Written
by Hass, C.,

Richter, K., and Ward, A. 2014. Department of

Biology, The Pennsylvania

State University, University Park, PA.

Cyr, R. 2002. Title of the tutorial being cited. In, Biology 110: Basic
concepts and

biodiverity course website. Department of Biology,

The Pennsylvania State

University. http://www.bio.psu.edu/