Worm Breeder's Gazette 4(1): 25
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 muscle mutant, E1500, has been isolated. It has several obvious phenotypic characteristics: uncoordinated movement, absolute egg-laying deficiency, slightly long body, abnormal body postures, and an interesting response to touch (when stroked gently on the head, the animal quickly recoils and relaxes, which has earned it the affectionate epithet, 'rubber band'). Although egg-laying deficiency is absolute, body movement is only somewhat restricted, distinguishing E1500 from other known muscle mutants and suggesting that E1500 may affect the muscles involved in egg-laying more than those of the body wall. The E1500 mutation is located on chromosome III probably between dpy-17 and unc-32, and is semidominant. This mutant has reverted spontaneously twelve independent times in about one year. All but one of these revertants fall into two classes: one class is very tightly linked to E1500, and the other class defines a complementation group of the X chromosome. Thirteen revertants have been induced with EMS, and so far these also fall into two classes: one class is very tightly linked to E1500, and the other class defines a complementation group on chromosome II. All extragenic suppressors are recessive and restore apparently wild type movement, egg-laying ability, and polarized light muscle phenotype.