Open AccessViable maternal-effect mutations that affect the development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
Author(s) -
Siegfried Hekimi,
P Boutis,
Bernard Lakowski
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.792
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1943-2631
pISSN - 0016-6731
DOI - 10.1093/genetics/141.4.1351
Subject(s) - biology , complementation , genetics , caenorhabditis elegans , gene , mutant , mutation , phenotype , genome , caenorhabditis , genetic analysis
We carried out a genetic screen for viable maternal-effect mutants to identify genes with a critical function relatively early in development. This type of mutation would not have been identified readily in previous screens for viable mutants and therefore could define previously unidentified genes. We screened 30,000 genomes and identified 41 mutations falling into 24 complementation groups. We genetically mapped these 24 loci; only two of them appear to correspond to previously identified genes. We present a partial phenotypic characterization of the mutants and a quantitative analysis of the degree to which they can be maternally or zygotically rescued.