scholarly journals Sex-related differences in crossing over in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Genetics ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 126 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-363
Author(s):  
M C Zetka ◽  
A M Rose

Abstract In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, hermaphrodite recombination has been characterized and is the basis of the genetic map used in this organism. In this study we have examined male recombination on linkage group I and have found it to be approximately one-third less than that observed in the hermaphrodite. This decrease was interval-dependent and nonuniform. We observed less recombination in the male in 5 out of 6 intervals examined, and no observable difference in one interval on the right end of LG I. Hermaphrodite recombination frequencies are the result of recombination in two germlines; oocyte and hermaphrodite spermatocytes. We have measured recombination in the oocyte and have found it to be approximately twofold lower than that calculated for hermaphrodite spermatocytes and not significantly different from the male spermatocyte frequency. Thus, recombination frequencies appear to be a function of gonad physiology rather than the sex of the germline. Evidence from experiments examining the effect of karyotype on recombination in males sexually transformed by the her-1 mutation into XO hermaphrodites (normally XX), suggests the sexual phenotype rather than genotype determines the recombination frequency characteristic of a particular sex. Hermaphrodite recombination is known to be affected by temperature, maternal age, and the rec-1 mutation. We have examined the effect of these parameters on recombination in the male and have found male recombination frequency increased with elevated temperatures and in the presence of Rec-1, and decreased with paternal age.

Genetics ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-468
Author(s):  
Marisa Sebastiano ◽  
Marina D'Alessio ◽  
Paolo Bazzicalupo

ABSTRACT Using a screening procedure that is based on a histochemical stain for the enzyme β-glucuronidase, we have isolated several mutants of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans affected in β-glucuronidase activity. All of the mutations fall into one complementation group and identify a new gene, gus-1, which has been mapped on the right arm of linkage group I (LG I), 1.1 map units to the left of unc-54. The mutants have no visible phenotype, and their viabilities and fertilities are unaffected. Linked revertants of two of the mutations have been isolated. They restore enzyme activity to almost wild-type levels; the β-glucuronidase that one of the revertants produces differs from that of the wild type. We propose that gus-1 is the structural locus for β-glucuronidase.


Genetics ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 987-1001
Author(s):  
K S McKim ◽  
A M Howell ◽  
A M Rose

Abstract In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, recombination suppression in translocation heterozygotes is severe and extensive. We have examined the meiotic properties of two translocations involving chromosome I, szT1(I;X) and hT1(I;V). No recombination was observed in either of these translocation heterozygotes along the left (let-362-unc-13) 17 map units of chromosome I. Using half-translocations as free duplications, we mapped the breakpoints of szT1 and hT1. The boundaries of crossover suppression coincided with the physical breakpoints. We propose that DNA sequences at the right end of chromosome I facilitate pairing and recombination. We use the data from translocations of other chromosomes to map the location of pairing sites on four other chromosomes. hT1 and szT1 differed markedly in their effect on recombination adjacent to the crossover suppressed region. hT1 had no effect on recombination in the adjacent interval. In contrast, the 0.8 map unit interval immediately adjacent to the szT1(I;X) breakpoint on chromosome I increased to 2.5 map units in translocation heterozygotes. This increase occurs in a chromosomal interval which can be expanded by treatment with radiation. These results are consistent with the suggestion that the szT1(I) breakpoint is in a region of DNA in which meiotic recombination is suppressed relative to the genomic average. We propose that DNA sequences disrupted by the szT1 translocation are responsible for determining the frequency of meiotic recombination in the vicinity of the breakpoint.


1975 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graig Hammerberg ◽  
Jan Klein

SUMMARYLinkage data for the following markers on chromosome 17 of the house mouse were obtained: centromere (marked by translocation R67), Brachyury (T), tufted (tf), H-2, and thin fur (thf). The markers were found to be arranged in that order in the genetic map and the combined genetic distances between individual markers were found to be as follows: Rb7…T, 4·5 cM; T…tf, 5·8 cM; tf…H-2, 5·0 cM; H-2…thf, 15·1 cM. The localization of the thf locus on the non-centromeric side of the H-2 complex provides an important marker for this arm of chromosome 17. The map distances in the centromeric portion of chromosome 17 changed drastically in the presence of various t factors. These factors strongly reduce the recombination frequency in the T…tf and tf…H-2 intervals and this crossing-over suppression is most likely responsible for the linkage disequilibrium between t and H-2 reported earlier. Recombinants involving a t chromosome but occurring to the right of the H-2 complex do not change the properties of t factors suggesting that all determinants responsible for the t phenotype are located in the chromosomal region between T and tf (H-2).


Genetics ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-345
Author(s):  
D Christine Sigurdson ◽  
Gail J Spanier ◽  
Robert K Herman

ABSTRACT Six schemes were used to identify 80 independent recessive lethal deficiencies of linkage group (LG) II following X-ray treatment of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Complementation tests between the deficiencies and ethyl methanesulfonate-induced recessive visible, lethal and sterile mutations and between different deficiencies were used to characterize the extents of the deficiencies. Deficiency endpoints thus helped to order 36 sites within a region representing about half of the loci on LG II and extending over about 5 map units. New mutations occurring in this region can be assigned to particular segments of the map by complementation tests against a small number of deficiencies; this facilitates the assignment of single-site mutations to particular genes, as we illustrate. Five sperm-defective and five oocyte-defective LG II sterile mutants were identified and mapped. Certain deficiency-by-deficiency complementation tests allowed us to suggest that the phenotypes of null mutations at two loci represented by visible alleles are wild type and that null mutations at a third locus confer a visible phenotype. A segment of LG II that is about 12 map units long and largely devoid of identified loci seems to be greatly favored for crossing over.


Genetics ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-65
Author(s):  
Robert K Herman

ABSTRACT Two dominant suppressors of crossing over have been identified following X-ray treatment of the small nematode C. elegans. They suppress crossing over in linkage group II (LGII) about 100-fold and 50-fold and are both tightly linked to LGII markers. One, called C1, segregates independently of all other linkage groups and is homozygous fertile. The other is a translocation involving LGII and X. The translocation also suppresses rrossing over along the right half of X and is homozygous lethal. CI has been used as a balancer of LGII recessive lethal and sterile mutations induced by EMS. The frequencies of occurrence of lethals and steriles were approximately equal. Fourteen mutations were assigned to complementation groups and mapped. They tended to map in the same region where LGII visibles are clustered.


1973 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-204
Author(s):  
Jenny Hargrave ◽  
S. F. H. Threlkeld

SUMMARYAn enhancement of cross-over frequencies previously reported by Newcombe & Threlkeld (1972) is shown to be due to two regions located on linkage group I, a few cross-over units to the right of the centromere. The distal region appears to be shorter than the proximal region, but equally effective in enhancing cross-over frequencies. The longer proximal region is readily divisable by cross-overs and probably spans several crossover units.


1988 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Rattray ◽  
A. M. Rose

SummaryThe Rec-1 strain of Caenorhabditis elegans increases recombination frequency three-fold. In this paper, we have investigated the effect of Rec-1 on the intragenic recombination phenomena of crossing-over and gene conversion. These events were increased two- to three-fold as was X-chromosome non-disjunction. All of the recovered recombinants were independent events, indicating that Rec-1 does not act pre-meiotically. The pattern of recombination in the Rec-1 strain resembles a meiotic pattern more than a radiation expansion. We conclude from this result that the Rec-1 enhancement of recombination is not the result of an increased number of DNA lesions randomly distributed along the chromosome. The increased recombination frequency of Rec-1 was not accompanied by any detrimental effects on growth, progeny number or spontaneous mutation rate. In this regard, the results may have implications for models which propose either selective advantage or disadvantage accompanying increased recombination.


1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 480-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry P. Snutch ◽  
David L. Baillie

Exposure of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to elevated temperatures induces the preferential synthesis of eight major polypeptides of approximate molecular weights 81 000, 70 000, 41 000, 38 000, 29 000, 19 000, 18 000, and 16 000. In pulse-labelled worms these peptides first appear at 29 °C and continue to be synthesized up to lethal temperatures. They are heat inducible at every stage of development. While temperature elevation induces the synthesis of the heat-shock polypeptides, the in vivo synthesis of most other proteins present before heat shock is suppressed. In contrast, in vitro translation of mRNA from heat-shocked worms shows no alteration from the pattern of normal 20 °C mRNAs except for the appearance of the heat-shock mRNAs. An in vitro study of RNA from control and heat-shocked dauer larvae shows that this developmental variant possesses little translatable mRNA but, upon heat shock, synthesizes a set of messages corresponding to the heat-shock polypeptides. The low background of this system will be especially useful in the analysis and purification of heat-shock mRNA for molecular cloning experiments. Extensive similarities between the Drosophila and C. elegans heat-shock responses are shown, including homology between the 70-kdalton heat-shock genes of the two organisms.


Genome ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Kim ◽  
A. M. Rose

We have studied the effect of gamma radiation on recombination frequency for intervals across the cluster of linkage group I in Caenorhabditis elegans. Recombination frequency increased approximately twofold across the dpy-5–unc-13 interval after treatment with 2000 rads (1 rad = 10 mGy) of cobalt 60 gamma radiation. Several factors affecting the magnitude of the increase have been characterized. Recombination frequency increased more with higher doses of radiation. However, the increase in recombination frequency with increasing dose was accompanied by a reduced average number of progeny from radiation-treated individuals. The amount of the increase was affected by meiotic stage, age at the time of treatment (premeiotic), and radiation dose. The increase in recombination was detectable in the B brood and remained elevated for the remainder of egg production. X-chromosome nondisjunction was also increased by radiation treatment. A high frequency of the recombinant progeny produced with radiation treatment were sterile unlike their nonrecombinant siblings. When parameters affecting recombination frequency are held constant during treatment, chromosomal regions of high gene density on the meiotic map increased more (fourfold) than an adjacent region of low gene density (no increase). The greatest increase was across the dpy-14–unc-13 interval near the center of the gene cluster. These results may suggest that the physical length of DNA per map unit is greater within the cluster than outside. Key words: recombination, radiation, nondisjunction, map expansion, genetic map.


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