Worm Breeder's Gazette 11(3): 17

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.

Spectrin Genes in C. elegans?

Dawn H. Giebelhaus, Shawna D. Clark and Paul E. Mains

Nonerythyroid spectrin (fodrin) and its associated proteins (protein 
4.1 and ankyrin) have been implicated in the establishment of 
specialized membrane-cytoskeletal domains in differentiating cells.  
Since the spectrin family of proteins is phylogenetically widely 
distributed (Giebelhaus et al, 1987, Byers et al., 1987), we have 
begun to investigate the expression and role of possible fodrin-like 
genes in C.  elegans.  
Southern blots of genomic DNA from C.  elegans and C.  briggsae were 
hybridized with a 1.2 kb human alpha-fodrin clone under moderate 
stringency (Hybridization: 30% formamide, 5xSSC, 48 C.  Washes: 2xSSC, 
1% SDS, 55 C).  Two distinct bands were seen from DNA digested with 
EcoRI or HindIII from both C.  elegans and C.  briggsae.  We are 
currently screening genomic libraries with the human alpha-fodrin 
clone to isolate clones which may contain C.  elegans spectrin-like 
genes.