Worm Breeder's Gazette 1(2): 11

These abstracts should not be cited in bibliographies. Material contained herein should be treated as personal communication and should be cited as such only with the consent of the author.

Experimental Observations: Maternal Effect and Linkage of the ts Lesion in the Wild Strain of C. elegans Bergerac

B. Wood

Some French strains of C.  elegans exhibit a zygote-defective 
phenotype at 25 C.  Crosses of English (N2) males with French (
Bergerac) hermaphrodites (obtained from Dr.  R.  Stokstad, Univ.  of 
Calif., Berkeley, through Carl Johnson) yield progeny that are fertile 
at 25 C, although some F2 segregants show reduced fertility.  When A 
and B tests for maternal effect (see preceding report) were carried 
out using F1 hermaphrodites from such a cross and wild type Bergerac 
hermaphrodites, respectively, the French strain scored M,M.  Therefore,
the ts lesion in this strain is recessive, and the gene(s) that it 
defines must be expressed in the parent for zygote survival.
Linkage of the ts allele(s) was tested by crossing English males 
heterozygous for known dpy markers with French hermaphrodites and 
scoring F2 dpy progeny for the ts phenotype.  The ts character is 
linked to dpy-10 in linkage group II.  The N2 ts zyg mutant B1 
characterized by Vanderslice and Hirsh exhibits the same maternal 
effects, and linkage as the Bergerac strain, and displays a lethal 
phenotype at 25 C very similar to that of the French strain studied by 
Nigon.  However, the two alleles complement; a tsB1/ts Bergerac 
heterozygote was constructed and found to be fertile.