Worm Breeder's Gazette 9(2): 75
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 are interested in genes involved in the control of embryonic development and have begun to look for mutations in such genes by isolating embryonic lethal mutants which we further screen phenotypically. Initially, we have concentrated on temperature- sensitive mutants. Among 22,000 F2 progeny of EMS treated worms, 242 ts embryonic lethals were obtained. These were screened by Nomarski microscopy and early lineage observation (see next abstract) and are now also analyzed by staining with monoclonal antibodies specific for certain cells in the embryo. In the future, we want to screen for more mutants including nonconditional embryonic lethals.