Worm Breeder's Gazette 7(2): 29a

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.

Title unknown.

Authors unknown.

In order to identify the products of fer genes that act during 
spermiogenesis we have cloned several sperm-specific genes.  This was 
done by preparing a library of 15-20 kb Sau3A partial fragments cloned 
onto lambda1059.  The library was differentially screened by 
hybridization to cDNAs prepared to male poly A+ RNA and adult 
hermaphrodite poly A+ RNA.  Nineteen phage were isolated that were 
male specific after screening 16,000 phage.  Eleven of these contain 
genes for the major sperm protein (MSP).  Most of these phage do not 
contain overlapping DNA fragments so the MSP must be coded for by a 
multi-gene family.  Genes for other male specific transcripts are 
found on the other phage, but the gene products have not yet been 
identified.  If we are lucky, some will be the sperm-specific proteins 
that we have raised anti-sera against.