Investigating How Enviornmental Insults Impact The Morphology of Neurospora Crassa

Faculty Sponsor

Michael Watters

College

College of Arts & Sciences (CAS)

Department/Program

Biology

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Symposium Date

Summer 7-22-2026

Abstract

Neurospora Crassa (N. Crassa), commonly called red bread mold, belongs in the phylum Ascomycota. N. Crassa is a haploid filamentous fungus that grows rapidly under optimal lab conditions. This fungus has historically been used as a model eukaryotic organism with a quick life cycle. N. Crassa experiences polarized growth with periodic branching and environmental responsiveness.  Observations were made of N. Crassa that show extremely high resistance to gravitational force and various other high-stress environments. The control environments being tested will be under a room-temperature control and a 30 °C incubator control. The extreme environments being tested will include a 30 °C centrifuge at various gravitational forces, a vacuum environment at -0.85 kPa × 100 BAR, and a clinostat to simulate low gravity. Our samples of N. Crassa for our environments will be housed in slant tubes in a controlled refrigerated unit. All samples will be grown on minimal medium agar. After a period of twenty-four hours, the samples from each environment are collected and their growth measured. Each sample is then taken to a microscope and photographed for future measurements and observations. A hemocytometer and ruler method is used to collect these measurements, and outlier observations are noted. Tip bursting under significant gravitational force deceleration was a notable outlying observation and will be explored. Properties of the tip-bursting cytoplasmic buildup will be determined. Once data is collected, figures are made in Microsoft Excel, and speculations can be made based on their trends.

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