Blue light induced differentiation in Phycomyces blakesleeanus : The Blue Light Syndrome

We have heard at this conference that blue light has several effects in many plants and microorganisms. Blue light has several physiological effects in the same organism: Phycomyces blakesleeanus. The oldest effects known are phototropism and a light-induced growth response (for a review see Bergman et al. 1969; Russo and Galland 1979). For thirty years it has been known that blue light also induces β-carotene (Garton et al. 1951). A few years ago Bergman (1972) showed that short pulses of blue light on a growing mycelium leads to an ordered spatial distribution of the production of sporan-giophores. We have further investigated the action of blue light on the differentiation of Phycomyces.