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Comments on Sabnis S et al. (1991) International C. elegans Meeting "THE CHARACTERIZATION OF UNC-1." (0)
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Sabnis S, Morgan PG, & Sedensky MM (1991). THE CHARACTERIZATION OF UNC-1 presented in International C. elegans Meeting. Unpublished information; cite only with author permission.
The mechanism of action of volatile anesthetics is as yet unknown. However, it appears that they disrupt neurophysiologic function in a manner conserved throughout nervous systems of different complexities. We are interested in understanding the molecular aspects of this process; a process that seems to be very fundamental to most nervous systems. Mutations in two genes, unc-79 (III) and unc-80 (V) cause altered responses to different groups of volatile anesthetics. This makes it very likely that there are multiple sites at which volatile anesthetics act, and that such sites are separable by mutation. Double mutant studies have indicated that other mutations such as unc-l (X), unc-7 (X), unc-9 (X) and unc-24 (IV) act as suppressors of unc- 79 and unc-80. Of all of these, we are most interested in further characterization of unc-l. There are four classes of unc-l alleles ( Park and Horvitz, 1986); two dominant coilers and two recessive kinkers. Only those alleles that show the recessive kinked phenotype act as suppressors of unc-79 and unc-80. By itself, an unc-l mutant shows an increased sensitivity to diethylether. In an attempt to clone the unc-l gene by transposon tagging, we are currently using the following methods for isolating spontaneous unc-l mutants. 1.) Brute- force screening for the kinky phenotype in the mutator strain RW7097 ( mut-6). 2.) Screening mut-2 (or mut-6); unc-79 double mutants for the suppression of sensitivity to halothane. 3.) Screening mut-2 (or mut-6) ; unc-l (d) double mutants for the loss of the dominant coiled phenotype and gain of the recessive kinked phenotype. Should none of these efforts give us the mutation of interest, we will also search for polymorphisms close to unc-l and initiate a walk to the gene.
