Worm Breeder's Gazette 13(4): 98 (October 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.
Dept. Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Baltimore, MD.
The cey-1 gene encodes a DNA binding protein which exhibits specific binding to two sites in the internal enhancer of unc-54 (1). cey-1 is expressed in oocytes and ubiquitously in the early embryo, but later becomes restricted to mesoderm (2). This suggests CEY-1 could play a role in specifying mesodermal patterns of gene expression. To elucidate the role of cey-1 in normal development, we have pursued two approaches toward isolating mutations: l) An EMS screen for visible and lethal mutations in the region of LG II where cey-1 has been physically mapped; and 2) Tc1 -basedscreens (i.e., sending off primers to Ronald Plasterk and Marianne de Vroomen). This article summarizes the current state of the EMS screens. The screens were carried out primarily by cloning wild type F1 progeny of [ unc-4 / mnC1 males] X [mutagenized unc-4 hermaphrodites]. In these screens, 840 mnC1 -balancedvisible and lethal mutations were recovered from 8954 mutagenized chromosomes. These mutants were then tested for complementation with mnDf90 .Of the 840 candidates tested, 84 failed complementation with mnDf90 ;these were then tested against mnDf87 and mnDp7 .In total, 7 zygotic lethal complementation groups, but no visible mutations, were found to lie within an m nDF90 / mnDf87 overlap that lies outside of mnDp77 .The alleles recovered are summarized below. Complementation Alleles Phenotype Group (Arrest Point)* ______________________________________________________ 1 cc502 LARVAL (Ll/L2) let 852 cc503 LARVAL (L2/L3) cc504 LARVAL (L3/L4) [ cc520 ]larval _______________________________________________________ 2 cc505 EMBRYONIC let 853 cc506 LEAKY EMBRYONIC cc521 larval _______________________________________________________ 3 cc507 EMBRYONIC let 854 cc508 LARVAL (L2/L3) _______________________________________________________ 4 cc509 LARVAL (Ll/L2)