Worm Breeder's Gazette 3(2): 19b

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.

A New Locus Affecting Sex Determination in C. elegans

J. Hodgkin

Mutations causing transformation of XO animals (normally male) into 
fertile hermaphrodites have been isolated by the following means.  A 
strain of genotype him-5(e1490) 28)V; 
X was constructed: this strain segregates 70% Dpy 
odites and 30% non-Dpy unc males, because the 
him-5 marker causes high self progeny male frequency and the dpy-21 
marker (hitherto incorrectly assigned to LGX) is not expressed in XO 
males.  The unc-7 marker was included to avoid outcrossing.  After 
mutagenesis of this strain, non-Dpy Unc hermaphrodites were picked 
from the F2 generation, and some carried mutations causing 
transformation of XO animals into fertile hermaphrodites.  So far, 
three independent isolates have been found to map to LGV, and have 
been assigned to a new locus, her-1V 
maphroditization').  Preliminary results 
indicate that her homozygotes are fertile hermaphrodites regardless of 
X chromosome dosage, and that mutations in all three tra genes are 
epistatic to her-