Worm Breeder's Gazette 8(1): 27
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.
We have begun to screen a collection of monoclonal antibodies that were generated against Drosophila embryos and stain a variety of Drosophila nervous tissues. These antibodies were kindly provided by Lily and Yuh Nung Jan of the University of California at San Francisco. Worms were fixed overnight at 4 C in 2% Formaldehyde, squashed, frozen and fractured as described by Albertson et al. (W.B.G. Vol.7 No.1) and transferred through a series of alchohols (95,70,50% EtOH). Three out of nine monoclonal antibodies that we have tested so far stain C. elegans. 20B6-B6* stains many nerve processes including dorsal and ventral cords, sub-lateral cords, cord commissures, amphid commissures and processes in the head. It is not yet clear whether this antibody stains all or only some processes. 18H12-C3* stains processes in a manner similar to 20B6-B6* as well as sperm and muscle ( or a structure with a muscle-like staining pattern). 21A4-E4 stains sperm and early (pre-morphogenetic) eggs. This staining is non- nuclear in both sperm and eggs and appears to be symmetrically distributed within eggs.