Worm Breeder's Gazette 5(2): 24
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.
N2, PR1000 (ace-1), GG202 (ace-2), GG201 (ace-2a, 8 (ace-2b, n tested for growth on NGM plates containing various concentrations of the potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor Aldicarb. Eggs of all strains were able to hatch at the highest concentrations of inhibitor used (. 5mM). Hatchees subsequently became paralyzed, failed to grow, and appeared dead; however, paralysis and growth inhibition were reversible even after two days on the inhibitor. At lower concentrations of Aldicarb (.24mM, .11mM, and .04mM) N2 and PR1000 hatchees survived, grew almost normally, and exhibited uncoordinated motion (much heterogeneity), whereas, GG202, GG201, and GG198 hatchees were paralyzed, didn't grow in length but did in width, and eventually became Dpy. At .02mM and lower concentrations of Aldicarb, growth and motion of all strains was near normal. Growth inhibition of N2, PR1000, and GG202 was exactly paralleled by the Aldicarb sensitivity of acetylcholinesterase activity present in these strains. One hundred forty putative Aldicarb resistant 'revertants' of GG198 from 35 EMS mutagenized lines were isolated in Gottingen and Evanston. Phenotypes include twitchers (3 mutants), curlers (many), paralyzed mutants (about 35), and mutants with 'better' motion than GG198 (about 30). The high proportion of paras seemed unusual, so we mapped the five most defective paras. Two are approximately 2 map units from dpy- 5 I and failed to complement. The other three are about 5 map units from lon-2 X and haven't been complemented; but all three have an uncharacterized effect on male tails. The musculature of these five paras appears normal. Most of the phenotypic 'revertants' with improved motion have not recovered acetylcholinesterase activity. Some of these may be 'hyperactives' of the sort turned up in other revertant hunts (M. Chalfie and R. Horvitz, personal communication)