Worm Breeder's Gazette 13(3): 29 (June 1, 1994)
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.
zyg-9 is a strict maternal-effect gene which is required in the embryo during the first cell cycle affecting pronuclear migration and the formation and position of the first mitotic spindle.
We have identified two overlapping cosmids, F14E5 and F52D7 ,at the center of chromosome II which rescue zyg-9 mutants suggesting that the gene is located within the 17 kb area of overlap between these two cosmids. This region contains the insertion site of two transposable elements associated with the zyg-9 phenotype. A major transcript of 2.4kb has been detected in this area and a partial cDNA (1-4) corresponding to this message has been isolated and sequenced. A comparison between the genomic and cDNA sequence has revealed that the site of insertion of the TC1 element in the allele sc1 14 is located within 500 bp of the 5-prime end of this cDNA.
An analysis of the cDNA sequence has revealed considerable similarity to several members of the E2 Ffamily of transcription factors, particularly within the DNA binding and dimerization domains .
The promoters of several genes that are under cell-cycle regulation contain E2 Fbinding sites suggesting that E2 Fmay play a role in cell cycle control.
We are currently attempting to determine whether this E2 F-likegene is zyg-9 by germline transformation and through the analysis of both genomic and cDNA from nine zyg-9 alleles.