Worm Breeder's Gazette 11(4): 85
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.
We are currently involved in the genetic analysis of the rol-3 gene of Caenorhabditis elegans. The rol-3 gene resides on the eT1 balanced region of LGV(left) within zone 18 as defined by the deficiencies sDf35 and mDf3 (1). The original rol-3 allele (e754) was EMS induced by Brenner(2). Worms homozygous for e754 display left-handed helical treads along the length of their bodies as opposed to linear ones, and have left-handed helical musculature as well. The roller mutant displays an abnormal crawl. Rather than moving in the sinusoidal fashion characteristic of the wild-type worm the rol-3 homozygote rotates along its long axis in a left-hand helical fashion, resulting in a semi-circular path.(3) Over the past four years our lab has isolated twelve more alleles of rol-3. Eight of these alleles come from EMS screens over the entire eT1 balanced region. Two alleles were gamma induced and two more were generated during EMS screens for selected regions of LGV(left) (1) . All of these are recessive lethal with the exception of s1040 which is homozygous viable at 15 C. Alleles s501 and s742 are the products of gamma mutagenesis while s126, s422, s833, s1030, s1040, s1408, s1409, s1473, s1494, s1519 are the EMS products. The calculated average EMS hit frequency for genes in the eT1 balanced region is 1.25, while that of rol-3 is 6 times greater. Furthermore, some of these alleles display different phenotypes. Whereas e754 is viable, s126, and s501 are early larval lethals, s422, s742, and s833 are mid larval lethals, and s1040 is homozygous viable roller at 15 C which displays mid larval lethality at 20 C. These phenotypic differences suggest that the rol-3 gene product may be required at more than one developmental stage. let-412(s1598) is a sterile adult which has been mapped to zone 18. This allele displays a weak roller phenotype. Analysis aimed at constructing a complementation map of the rol-31 i in order to determine whether or not this is a complex locus is currently under way. In order to help identify genes whose products interact with rol-3 during development, we are currently trying to identify and characterize mutations which suppress the temperature sensitive mid larval lethal phenotype of rol-3(s1040). We have isolated two gamma induced and six putative E.M.S. induced revertants. The nature of these suppressors is currently under investigation.