Title: | A screen for nonconditional dauer-constitutive mutations in Caenorhabditis elegans |
Address: | "Department of Genetics, University of Washington, Seattle 98195" |
DOI: | 10.1093/genetics/136.3.879 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 0016-6731 (Print) 0016-6731 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "In Caenorhabditis elegans, formation of the developmentally arrested dauer larva is induced by high levels of a constitutively secreted pheromone. Synergy between two groups of incompletely penetrant dauer-constitutive (Daf-c) mutations has recently led to a proposal that these two groups of genes are partially redundant and function in two parallel pathways that regulate dauer formation. A possible weakness in this reasoning is that the mutations used to identify the synergy were specifically obtained as incompletely penetrant mutations. Here we use screens to identify new Daf-c alleles without any requirement for partial penetrance. Nevertheless, 22 of the 25 new mutations are incompletely penetrant mutations in 6 previously identified genes. Among these are mutations in daf-8 and daf-19, genes for which only one mutation had been previously identified. Also included in this group are three daf-1 alleles that do not exhibit the maternal rescue characteristic of other daf-1 alleles. Two of the 25 new mutations are fully penetrant and are alleles of daf-2, the one gene in which a fully penetrant mutation had been found earlier. Finally, one of the 25 new mutations is semidominant, temperature-sensitive, and identifies a new gene, daf-28. The results demonstrate that an incompletely penetrant Daf-c phenotype is characteristic of mutations in most Daf-c genes other than daf-2. This finding strengthens the hypothesis that a branched genetic pathway controls dauer formation" |
Keywords: | "Alleles Animals Caenorhabditis elegans/*genetics/growth & development/physiology Genes, Helminth Larva/genetics/growth & development Models, Genetic Mutagenesis Mutation Phenotype Pheromones/metabolism Temperature;" |
Notes: | "MedlineMalone, E A Thomas, J H eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 1994/03/01 Genetics. 1994 Mar; 136(3):879-86. doi: 10.1093/genetics/136.3.879" |