Worm Breeder's Gazette 8(1): 14
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 mutation in the dpy-20 gene produces alterations in both head and body morphology. Through the reversion tests with one allele cn142 of the gene, we have isolated a TN1 strain that is morphologically wild type but have dumpy progeny in addition to wild-type progeny. The dumpy individual produces no wild-type progeny by self-fertilization and is genetically identical with the cn142 allele. By genetic analysis, it is concluded that the TN1 strain still retains the parental mutation in the dpy-20 gene whose expression is probably suppressed by another mutation. The potential suppressor gene is linked to the same LGN as the dpy-20 gene and is probably located close to the gene. The unusual phenotype of TN1 that makes wild-type in addition to dumpy progeny, can be explained by the loss of the suppressive activity. Further genetic analysis have been hindered, because double mutants constructed between TN1 and various Unc mutations on LGN are also tending to be lost by progressing generations. In addition to the aboves, another phenotype is that the brood size of the strain is only one-sixth of wild type. The poor brood size recovers to 200 after back-cross with wild type but gradually decreases to about 50 with advancing in generations. Partial properties of the strain appear in J. Exp. Zool. 224 434 ( 82).