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Comments on Mori I et al. (1991) International C. elegans Meeting "Genetic and behavioral analyses of thermotaxis defective mutants." (0)
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Mori I, Honda H, & Ohshima YM (1991). Genetic and behavioral analyses of thermotaxis defective mutants presented in International C. elegans Meeting. Unpublished information; cite only with author permission.
The establishment of thermotaxis in C. elegans possibly requires proper expression of genes involved in thermoreception, maintenance and assessment of thermal information, and general tactic behavior. Since our previous report (WBG 11 No. 2: 92, 1990), we have continued our analysis of thermotaxis-defective (ttx ) mutants to identify genes important for different steps in the pathway. Of EMS-induced ttx mutations isolated from N2 and daf-6(el377) backgrounds (about 104 genomes screened each), 5 athermotactic mutations identified 2 genes, ( kslO, kslS, ks31 ) I, and (ksll, ks28 ) III. Both ksll and ks28 also abolish normal chemotaxis to NaCl, but show normal osmotic avoidance against a high concentration of NaCl. Likewise, ksl O and kslS are CHE( -) OSM(+), but ks31 is CHE(+) OSM(+). AFD is a likely thermosensory neuron in the amphid (Perkins et. al., 1986, Dev. Biol. 117: 456) and has a single synaptic connection to AIY (White et. al., 1986, The Mind of a Worm). ASE is a single major chemosensory neuron for normal chemotaxis tO a variety of attractants (Bargmann and Horvitz, 1989, CSH meeting abstract) and has the most prominent synaptic connection to AIY (White et. al., 1986). An interesting hypothesis is that the gene defined by kslO, kslS, and ks31 is required in AIY for convergence of thermo- and chemo- signals. Dusenbery et. al. (Genetics 80: 297, 1975) isolated several tax mutants, which disrupt both chemo- and thermotaxis. We are currently testing if any of tax genes corresponds to our atactic genes. ks4 III, which is CHE(+) OSM(+), was first isolated as a straight cryophilic mutation in daf-6 background. Interestingly, the elimination of daf-6 from the background somehow reduced the cryophilic nature of ks4. This suggests that certain che mutations act as enhancers of certain ttx mutations, again reflecting close relationship between chemo- and thermosensory transductions. ksS, CHE(+) OSM(+), is another cryophilic mutation isolated from daf-6 mutagenesis. ksS remains as straight cryophilic in daf-6-free background. ks4 and ksS complement ttx-l (p767), which was mapped to V. We thank Ed Hedgecock for strains, information, and suggestion.
