scholarly journals Generating Autotetraploid Sporophytes and Their Use in Analyzing Mutations Affecting Gametophyte Development in the Fern Ceratopteris

Genetics ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 147 (2) ◽  
pp. 809-814
Author(s):  
Brody DeYoung ◽  
Todd Weber ◽  
Barbara Hass ◽  
Jo Ann Banks
Keyword(s):  
Sex Determination ◽  
Dna Content ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome ◽  
Complementation Analysis ◽  
Recessive Mutation ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Gametophyte Development ◽  
Segregation Ratios ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes ◽  
Mother Cells

The haploid gametophytes of the fern Ceratopteris richardii are autotrophic and develop independently of the diploid sporophyte plant. While haploid genetics is useful for screening and characterizing mutations affecting gametophyte development in Ceratopteris, it is difficult to assess whether a gametophytic mutation is dominant or recessive or to determine allelism by complementation analysis in a haploid organism. This report describes how apospory can be used to produce genetically marked polyploid sporophytes whose gametophyte progeny are heterozygous for mutations affecting sex determination in the gametophyte and a known recessive mutation affecting the phenotype of both the gametophyte and sporophyte. The segregation ratios of wild-type to mutant phenotypes in the gametophyte progeny of polyploid sporophyte plants indicate that all of the mutations examined are recessive. The presence of many multivalents and few univalents in meiotic chromosome preparations of spore mother cells confirm that the sporophyte plants assayed are polyploid. The DNA content of the sperm of their progeny gametophytes was also found to be approximately twice that of sperm from wild-type haploid gametophytes.

scholarly journals The Mutant Phenotype Associated With P-Element Alleles of the vestigial Locus in Drosophila melanogaster May Be Caused by a Readthrough Transcript Initiated at the P-Element Promoter

Genetics ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 157 (4) ◽  
pp. 1665-1672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross B Hodgetts ◽  
Sandra L O'Keefe
Keyword(s):  
Rna Secondary Structure ◽  
Insertion Site ◽  
Large Body ◽  
P Element ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Subtle Difference ◽  
Pronounced Difference ◽  
Internal Repeat ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes

Abstract We report here the isolation of a new P-element-induced allele of the vestigial locus vg2a33, the molecular characterization of which allows us to propose a unifying explanation of the phenotypes of the large number of vestigial P-element alleles that now exists. The first P-element allele of vestigial to be isolated was vg21, which results in a very weak mutant wing phenotype that is suppressed in the P cytotype. By destabilizing vg2a33 in a dysgenic cross, we isolated the vg2a33 allele, which exhibits a moderate mutant wing phenotype and is not suppressed by the P cytotype. The new allele is characterized by a 46-bp deletion that removes the 3′-proximal copy of the 11-bp internal repeat from the P element of vg21. To understand how this subtle difference between the two alleles leads to a rather pronounced difference in their phenotypes, we mapped both the vg and P-element transcription units present in wild type and mutants. Using both 5′-RACE and S1 protection, we found that P-element transcription is initiated 19 bp farther upstream than previously thought. Using primer extension, the start of vg transcription was determined to lie 435 bp upstream of the longest cDNA recovered to date and upstream of the P-element insertion site. Our discovery that the P element is situated within the first vg exon has prompted a reassessment of the large body of genetic data on a series of alleles derived from vg21. Our current hypothesis to explain the degree of variation in the mutant phenotypes and their response to the P repressor invokes a critical RNA secondary structure in the vg transcript, the formation of which is hindered by a readthrough transcript initiated at the P-element promoter.

scholarly journals Analysis of maxillopedia Expression Pattern and Larval Cuticular Phenotype in Wild-Type and Mutant Tribolium

Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 155 (2) ◽  
pp. 721-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa D Shippy ◽  
Jianhua Guo ◽  
Susan J Brown ◽  
Richard W Beeman ◽  
Robin E Denell
Keyword(s):  
Rna Interference ◽  
Expression Pattern ◽  
Tribolium Castaneum ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Ectopic Expression ◽  
Homeotic Gene ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Double Stranded Rna ◽  
Similar Expression ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes

Abstract The Tribolium castaneum homeotic gene maxillopedia (mxp) is the ortholog of Drosophila proboscipedia (pb). Here we describe and classify available mxp alleles. Larvae lacking all mxp function die soon after hatching, exhibiting strong transformations of maxillary and labial palps to legs. Hypomorphic mxp alleles produce less severe transformations to leg. RNA interference with maxillopedia double-stranded RNA results in phenocopies of mxp mutant phenotypes ranging from partial to complete transformations. A number of gain-of-function (GOF) mxp alleles have been isolated based on transformations of adult antennae and/or legs toward palps. Finally, we have characterized the mxp expression pattern in wild-type and mutant embryos. In normal embryos, mxp is expressed in the maxillary and labial segments, whereas ectopic expression is observed in some GOF variants. Although mxp and Pb display very similar expression patterns, pb null embryos develop normally. The mxp mutant larval phenotype in Tribolium is consistent with the hypothesis that an ancestral pb-like gene had an embryonic function that was lost in the lineage leading to Drosophila.

scholarly journals COMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS OF LINKED CIRCADIAN CLOCK MUTANTS OF NEUROSPORA CRASSA

Genetics ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry F Feldman ◽  
Marian N Hoyle
Keyword(s):  
Linkage Group ◽  
Circadian Clock ◽  
Neurospora Crassa ◽  
Period Length ◽  
Complementation Analysis ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
The Right

ABSTRACT A fourth mutant of Neurospora crassa, designated frq-4, has been isolated in which the period length of the circadian conidiation rhythm is shortened to 19.3 ± 0.3 hours. This mutant is tightly linked to the three previously isolated frq mutants, and all four map to the right arm of linkage group VII about 10 map units from the centromere. Complementation tests suggest, but do not prove, that all four mutations are allelic, since each of the four mutants is co-dominant with the frq  + allele—i.e., heterokaryons have period lengths intermediate between the mutant and wild-type—and since heterokaryons between pairs of mutants also have period lengths intermediate between those of the two mutants.

scholarly journals ParB deficiency in Pseudomonas aeruginosa destabilizes the partner protein ParA and affects a variety of physiological parameters

Microbiology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 155 (4) ◽  
pp. 1080-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Bartosik ◽  
J. Mierzejewska ◽  
C. M. Thomas ◽  
G. Jagura-Burdzy
Keyword(s):  
Pseudomonas Aeruginosa ◽  
Fluorescence Microscopy ◽  
Bacterial Growth ◽  
Complete Loss ◽  
Physiological Parameters ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Partial Removal ◽  
Partner Protein ◽  
The One ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes

Deletions leading to complete or partial removal of ParB were introduced into the Pseudomonas aeruginosa chromosome. Fluorescence microscopy of fixed cells showed that ParB mutants lacking the C-terminal domain or HTH motif formed multiple, less intense foci scattered irregularly, in contrast to the one to four ParB foci per cell symmetrically distributed in wild-type P. aeruginosa. All parB mutations affected both bacterial growth and swarming and swimming motilities, and increased the production of anucleate cells. Similar effects were observed after inactivation of parA of P. aeruginosa. As complete loss of ParA destabilized its partner ParB it was unclear deficiency of which protein is responsible for the mutant phenotypes. Analysis of four parB mutants showed that complete loss of ParB destabilized ParA whereas three mutants that retained the N-terminal 90 aa of ParB did not. As all four parB mutants demonstrate the same defects it can be concluded that either ParB, or ParA and ParB in combination, plays an important role in nucleoid distribution, growth and motility in P. aeruginosa.

scholarly journals SOLO: a meiotic protein required for centromere cohesion, coorientation, and SMC1 localization in Drosophila melanogaster

2010 ◽  
Vol 188 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rihui Yan ◽  
Sharon E. Thomas ◽  
Jui-He Tsai ◽  
Yukihiro Yamada ◽  
Bruce D. McKee
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Sister Chromatid ◽  
Sister Chromatid Cohesion ◽  
Early Prophase ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Sister Chromatids ◽  
Chromatid Cohesion ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes ◽  
Meiosis I ◽  
Novel Protein

Sister chromatid cohesion is essential to maintain stable connections between homologues and sister chromatids during meiosis and to establish correct centromere orientation patterns on the meiosis I and II spindles. However, the meiotic cohesion apparatus in Drosophila melanogaster remains largely uncharacterized. We describe a novel protein, sisters on the loose (SOLO), which is essential for meiotic cohesion in Drosophila. In solo mutants, sister centromeres separate before prometaphase I, disrupting meiosis I centromere orientation and causing nondisjunction of both homologous and sister chromatids. Centromeric foci of the cohesin protein SMC1 are absent in solo mutants at all meiotic stages. SOLO and SMC1 colocalize to meiotic centromeres from early prophase I until anaphase II in wild-type males, but both proteins disappear prematurely at anaphase I in mutants for mei-S332, which encodes the Drosophila homologue of the cohesin protector protein shugoshin. The solo mutant phenotypes and the localization patterns of SOLO and SMC1 indicate that they function together to maintain sister chromatid cohesion in Drosophila meiosis.

scholarly journals Goα Regulates Volatile Anesthetic Action in Caenorhabditis elegans

Genetics ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 158 (2) ◽  
pp. 643-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno van Swinderen ◽  
Laura B Metz ◽  
Laynie D Shebester ◽  
Jane E Mendel ◽  
Paul W Sternberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Novel Mutation ◽  
Volatile Anesthetic ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Α Subunit ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Missense Mutant ◽  
Anesthetic Action ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes

Abstract To identify genes controlling volatile anesthetic (VA) action, we have screened through existing Caenorhabditis elegans mutants and found that strains with a reduction in Go signaling are VA resistant. Loss-of-function mutants of the gene goa-1, which codes for the α-subunit of Go, have EC50s for the VA isoflurane of 1.7- to 2.4-fold that of wild type. Strains overexpressing egl-10, which codes for an RGS protein negatively regulating goa-1, are also isoflurane resistant. However, sensitivity to halothane, a structurally distinct VA, is differentially affected by Go pathway mutants. The RGS overexpressing strains, a goa-1 missense mutant found to carry a novel mutation near the GTP-binding domain, and eat-16(rf) mutants, which suppress goa-1(gf) mutations, are all halothane resistant; goa-1(null) mutants have wild-type sensitivities. Double mutant strains carrying mutations in both goa-1 and unc-64, which codes for a neuronal syntaxin previously found to regulate VA sensitivity, show that the syntaxin mutant phenotypes depend in part on goa-1 expression. Pharmacological assays using the cholinesterase inhibitor aldicarb suggest that VAs and GOA-1 similarly downregulate cholinergic neurotransmitter release in C. elegans. Thus, the mechanism of action of VAs in C. elegans is regulated by Goα, and presynaptic Goα-effectors are candidate VA molecular targets.

Development of surface pattern during division in Paramecium. II. Defective spatial control in the mutant kin241

Development ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 319-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Jerka-Dziadosz ◽  
N. Garreau de Loubresse ◽  
J. Beisson
Keyword(s):  
Basal Body ◽  
Major Effect ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cortical Reorganization ◽  
Surface Pattern ◽  
Recessive Mutation ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Cortical Organization ◽  
Nuclear Reorganization ◽  
In The Wild

kin241 is a monogenic nuclear recessive mutation producing highly pleiotropic effects on cell size and shape, generation time, thermosensitivity, nuclear reorganization and cortical organization. We have analyzed the nature of the cortical disorders and their development during division, using various specific antibodies labelling either one of the cortical cytoskeleton components, as was previously done for analysis of cortical pattern formation in the wild type. Several abnormalities in basal body properties were consistently observed, although with a variable frequency: extra microtubules in either the triplets or in the lumen; nucleation of a second kinetodesmal fiber; abnormal orientation of the newly formed basal body with respect to the mother one. The latter effect seems to account for the major observed cortical disorders (reversal, intercalation of supplementary ciliary rows). The second major effect of the mutation concerns the spatiotemporal map of cortical reorganization during division. Excess basal body proliferation occurs and is correlated with modified boundaries of some of the cortical domains identified in the wild type on the basis of their basal body duplication pattern. This is the first mutant described in a ciliate in which both the structure and duplication of basal bodies and the body plan are affected. The data support the conclusion that the mutation does not alter the nature of the morphogenetic signal(s) which pervade the dividing cell, nor the competence of cytoskeletal structures to respond to signalling, but affects the local interpretation of the signals.

scholarly journals The Quorum-Sensing Molecule Autoinducer 2 Regulates Motility and Flagellar Morphogenesis in Helicobacter pylori

2007 ◽  
Vol 189 (17) ◽  
pp. 6109-6117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany A. Rader ◽  
Shawn R. Campagna ◽  
Martin F. Semmelhack ◽  
Bonnie L. Bassler ◽  
Karen Guillemin
Keyword(s):  
Helicobacter Pylori ◽  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Sigma Factor ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Soft Agar ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Flagellar Gene ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Autoinducer 2 ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes

ABSTRACT The genome of the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori contains a homologue of the gene luxS, which has been shown to be responsible for production of the quorum-sensing signal autoinducer 2 (AI-2). We report here that deletion of the luxS gene in strain G27 resulted in decreased motility on soft agar plates, a defect that was complemented by a wild-type copy of the luxS gene and by the addition of cell-free supernatant containing AI-2. The flagella of the luxS mutant appeared normal; however, in genetic backgrounds lacking any of three flagellar regulators—the two-component sensor kinase flgS, the sigma factor σ28 (also called fliA), and the anti-sigma factor flgM—loss of luxS altered flagellar morphology. In all cases, the double mutant phenotypes were restored to the luxS + phenotype by the addition of synthetic 4,5-dihydroxy-2,3-pentanedione (DPD), which cyclizes to form AI-2. Furthermore, in all mutant backgrounds loss of luxS caused a decrease in transcript levels of the flagellar regulator flhA. Addition of DPD to luxS cells induced flhA transcription in a dose-dependent manner. Deletion of flhA in a wild-type or luxS mutant background resulted in identical loss of motility, flagella, and flagellar gene expression. These data demonstrate that AI-2 functions as a secreted signaling molecule upstream of FlhA and plays a critical role in global regulation of flagellar gene transcription in H. pylori.

scholarly journals GENETIC ANALYSIS OF THREE DOMINANT FEMALE-STERILE MUTATIONS LOCATED ON THE X CHROMOSOME OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Genetics ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-325
Author(s):  
D Busson ◽  
M Gans ◽  
K Komitopoulou ◽  
M Masson
Keyword(s):  
X Chromosome ◽  
Germ Line ◽  
Female Sterility ◽  
Recessive Mutation ◽  
Wild Type Allele ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Allelic Series ◽  
Type Allele ◽  
Dominant Female ◽  
Female Germ Line

ABSTRACT Three dominant female-sterile mutations were isolated following ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis. Females heterozygous for two of these mutations show atrophy of the ovaries and produce no eggs (ovoD  1) or few eggs (ovoD  2); females heterozygous for the third mutation, ovoD  3, lay flaccid eggs. All three mutations are germ line-dependent and map to the cytological region 4D-E on the X chromosome; they represent a single allelic series. Two doses of the wild-type allele restore fertility to females carrying ovoD  3 and ovoD  2, but females carrying ovoD  1 and three doses of the wild-type allele remain sterile. The three mutations are stable in males but are capable of reversion in females; reversion of the dominant mutations is accompanied by the appearance, in the same region, of a recessive mutation causing female sterility. We discuss the utility of these mutations as markers of clones induced in the female germ line by mitotic recombination as well as the nature of the mutations.

SIAMESE, a gene controlling the endoreduplication cell cycle in Arabidopsis thaliana trichomes

Development ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 127 (18) ◽  
pp. 3931-3940 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.D. Walker ◽  
D.G. Oppenheimer ◽  
J. Concienne ◽  
J.C. Larkin
Keyword(s):  
Cell Cycle ◽  
Cell Differentiation ◽  
Genetic Locus ◽  
Precursor Cell ◽  
Recessive Mutation ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Normal Morphology ◽  
Cell Divisions ◽  
Nondividing Cell ◽  
Scanning Electron

Cell differentiation is generally tightly coordinated with the cell cycle, typically resulting in a nondividing cell with a unique differentiated morphology. The unicellular trichomes of Arabidopsis are a well-established model for the study of plant cell differentiation. Here, we describe a new genetic locus, SIAMESE (SIM), required for coordinating cell division and cell differentiation during the development of Arabidopsis trichomes (epidermal hairs). A recessive mutation in the sim locus on chromosome 5 results in clusters of adjacent trichomes that appeared to be morphologically identical ‘twins’. Upon closer inspection, the sim mutant was found to produce multicellular trichomes in contrast to the unicellular trichomes produced by wild-type (WT) plants. Mutant trichomes consisting of up to 15 cells have been observed. Scanning electron microscopy of developing sim trichomes suggests that the cell divisions occur very early in the development of mutant trichomes. WT trichome nuclei continue to replicate their DNA after mitosis and cytokinesis have ceased, and as a consequence have a DNA content much greater than 2C. This phenomenon is known as endoreduplication. Individual nuclei of sim trichomes have a reduced level of endoreduplication relative to WT trichome nuclei. Endoreduplication is also reduced in dark-grown sim hypocotyls relative to WT, but not in light-grown hypocotyls. Double mutants of sim with either of two other mutants affecting endoreduplication, triptychon (try) and glabra3 (gl3) are consistent with a function for SIM in endoreduplication. SIM may function as a repressor of mitosis in the endoreduplication cell cycle. Additionally, the relatively normal morphology of multicellular sim trichomes indicates that trichome morphogenesis can occur relatively normally even when the trichome precursor cell continues to divide. The sim mutant phenotype also has implications for the evolution of multicellular trichomes.

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