Worm Breeder's Gazette 10(1): 77

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.

Localization of the Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate Dehydrogenase Messenger RNAs by in situ Hybridization Using Asymmetric Biotinylated Probes

X. Huang and R. Hecht

Specific asymmetric DNA probes for the GAPDH genes in C.  elegans 
have been made by chain elongation with specific primers in the 
presence of biotinylated nucleotide analogues.  The biotinylated 
probes were used to in situ hybridize embryo and adult worm squashes.  
The results showed that GAPDH mRNAs of the two nearly identical copies 
(Ia and Ib) are present in all cells; whereas GAPDH mRNAs of the two 
tandem direct repeats (IIa and IIb) are preferentially located in body-
wall muscle cells.  This confirms the notion that Genes Ia and Ib code 
for the GAPDH-1 isoenzyme; genes IIa and IIb code for the GAPDH-2 
isoenzyme.  Also the developmental expression analysis showed that 
genes Ia and Ib mRNAs are enriched in embryos while genes IIa and IIb 
mRNAs increase during postembryonic development.  These results are 
expected based on our earlier ontogenetic study of GAPDH-1 and GAPDH-2 
isoenzyme expression.