A rapid method for ploidy determination in fungal cells

Summary Haploid and diploid strains of Schizosaccharomyces pombe were used to show that a method of determining ploidy developed for plant cells and based on the integration of DAPI nuclear fluorescence could be applied to a fungal system. The fluorescence of nuclei stained with DAPI was quantified using a computer controlled imaging system and found to correlate precisely with ploidy. The method has potentially wide applications for ploidy determination in less well characterised fungal species involved in plant infection and industrial processes.