Worm Breeder's Gazette 5(2): 17

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.

Bergerac vs. Bristol: Adult Cuticle Proteins

M. Kusch, Z. Kahn

We have done several experiments to compare cuticle proteins of the 
Bergerac Strain of C.  elegans with those of the Bristol Strain.  
These experiments were undertaken to determine if the cuticle proteins 
of the two variants had electrophoretic differences which could be 
exploited to map genes coding for cuticle proteins.  Since Bergerac 
dauers are not resistant to SDS, it was necessary to obtain relatively 
synchronous adults grown from L1 juveniles obtained by filtration 
through 5  nylon mesh screens.  The cuticle proteins from adults of 
both strains were subjected to 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis using 
the techniques of O'Farrell.  The gel patterns obtained are virtually 
identical in the two strains.  This result suggests that the collagens 
which make up these animal's cuticles are well conserved proteins and 
may imply rigid structural constraints on the composition of these 
molecules.