The life cycle of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans: II. A simplified method for mutant characterization☆

[摘要] AsimplemethodforcharacterizingthedevelopmentandreproductionofmutantstrainsofthesmallnematodeCaenorhabditiseleganshasbeendeveloped.“3-egg”populationsofnematodes,startedwiththreesynchronouslylaideggsandallowedtodevelopundisturbedforabouttwogenerations,aremeasuredontheelectronicnematodecounter,andtheresultingsizedistributionsareinterpretedbyacomputer.Thecomputercomparestheobserveddistributiontoanexpecteddistribution,generatedbyassumingthedevelopmentalcurvespreviouslymeasuredforthewild-typeC.elegans;ifthedistributionsdonotagree,thecomputerindependentlyvariesscalefactorsfordevelopmentalrate,size,egg-layingrate,andspreaduntiltheexpecteddistributionbestapproximatestheobservedone.Theresultingfactorsquantifyanymutantdefectofgrowthorreproduction,andthepoornessoffittellshowgreatlythemutant'sdevelopmentdiffersfromthatofthewild-typeinwaysotherthanthoseallowedforbythefourscalechanges.Thecomputerprogramisshowntobeabletofitwild-typeC.elegans3-eggpopulationsgrownforvariouslengthsoftimeat20°C.Three-eggpopulationsofwild-typeanimalsgrownat16and25°Carefittedbythecomputerandgivealtereddevelopmentalparametersconsistentwiththosepreviouslymeasuredbymoredirectmeans.Ninebehavioralandmorphologicalmutantshavebeenanalyzedbythismethod.Allshowsomedevelopmentalalterationsfromthewild-type.Fertilityseemstobemoreadverselyaffectedthangrowth.Onemutanthasbeenstudiedinmoredetailtodeterminethespecificwaysinwhichitdiffersfromthewild-type.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）