Worm Breeder's Gazette 9(2): 35
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 repetitive element which is homologous to the transposable element Tc1 from C. elegans resides in C. briggsae. When an EcoRV-cut Tc1 probe is hybridized with moderate stringency to C. briggsae EcoRI- digested genomic DNA, numerous bands can be visualized at a weaker signal than those seen in C. elegans. This Tc1 probe was used to screen a C. briggsae var. G16 Charon 4 library (constructed by T. Snutch). A single EcoRI fragment in each of 13 phage contained Tc1 homology and these have been subcloned. These plasmids are being compared with respect to their restriction map and homologous regions. The restriction sites found in Tc1 are not present in these subclones. The Tc1 homology appears to extend over the entirety of the Tc1 element. The size of the C. briggsae repetitive element is not known. A SalI/EcoRI fragment with Tc1 homology from one of the C. briggsae plasmids was hybridized against DNA from two C. briggsae strains, G16 and Zuckerman. The repetitive element is at low copy number ( approximately fifteen bands in G16) in both strains, but there are at least six banding differences between these strains. The repetitive element has been named Barney.