Question

The fungus often studied in experimental genetics and also called “Drosophila of plant kingdom” is:
A. Erysiphe
B. Rhizopus
C. Aspergillus
D. Neurospora

Answer 1

Hint: Drosophila is commonly known as fruit fly. It is used as a model organism for studies in experimental genetics in the case of animals. So ‘Drosophila of plant kingdom’ stands here for the fungus that is used for experimental genetics studies like the Drosophila is used in animal kingdom.

Complete answer:
 The fungus used for experimental genetics is the one that is easy to grow and has a haploid life cycle that makes genetic study simple.

> Option A - This is a genus of fungi form family Erysiphaceae, there are many plant pathogens species in this family. These cause powdery mildew on the plants.

> Option B - This fungus is a common parasite on animals and is found in mature fruits and vegetables of a wide variety. These sometimes cause fungal infection in humans and can be fatal.

> Option C - These groups of fungus grow where high concentration of sugar, salt, etc. is present. These are common contaminants of food that contain starch such as potato and bread and also grow on many trees and plants.

> Option D - This fungus is a genus of Ascomycete fungi and the best species of this genus is known as a common model organism for studies. Neurospora is easy to culture and it grows rapidly so it is used in experimental genetics. It can survive on minimum media and has a haploid life cycle that is easy to study genetics. Neurospora is known as ‘Drosophila of the plant kingdom’.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Note: Neurospora is used as genetic material because of its growing feature and also because of its haploid life cycle. Haploid cycle is beneficial to study genetics as any recessive trait will come up in the offspring that makes many experiments easier.