Isolation of Neurospora and its interaction with maize

Neurospora crassa is commonly known as red bread mould as it produces luxuriant and clearly visible orange spores (conidia). Neurospora possesses a combination of features which makes it an ideal organism for research. It is easy to grow and maintain in the laboratory, has short life cycle and it is haploid that makes genetic analysis simple. Most importantly Neurospora is non-pathogenic and it is even used as food in many countries. Neurospora has been observed in many countries, growing commonly on vegetation scorched by fire, on corn cobs and in sugar cane fields. In India and particularly in Ujjain, Neurospora intermedia strains has been found growing on discarded corn cobs regularly. Although Neurospora is well established saprophytic soil borne fungus but recent studies indicate that it may live in some plants as endophytic fungus. Efforts are needed in this area to confirm these results and to study the interaction of Neurospora with plants which are natural substrate for this fungus like corn and sugarcane. In view of this it was decided to study interaction of Neurospora with maize during this study.