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Resources » Paper

Michael Palopoli et al. (2008) Development & Evolution Meeting "Molecular Basis of the Copulatory Plug Polymorphism"

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    Publication type:
    Meeting_abstract
    WormBase ID:
    WBPaper00035022

    Michael Palopoli, Matthew Rockman, Aye TinMaung, Camden Ramsay, Stephen Curwen, Andrea Aduna, Jason Laurita, & Leonid Kruglyak (2008). Molecular Basis of the Copulatory Plug Polymorphism presented in Development & Evolution Meeting. Unpublished information; cite only with author permission.

    Understanding the genetic basis of phenotypic variation in natural populations remains one of the central problems in modern biology. We investigated the genetic basis of a classic phenotypic dimorphism in Caenorhabditis elegans. Males from many natural isolates deposit a copulatory plug after mating, whereas males from other natural isolates-including the standard wild-type strain (N2 Bristol) that is used in most research laboratories-do not deposit plugs. The copulatory plug is a gelatinous mass that covers the hermaphrodite vulva, and it appears to serve a mate-guarding function in this species. We show that variation in plugging ability results from the insertion of a retrotransposon into an exon of a novel mucin-like gene, plg-1, whose product is a major structural component of the copulatory plug. The gene is expressed in a subset of secretory cells of the male somatic gonad, and its loss has no evident effects beyond the loss of male mate-guarding. Although C. elegans descends from an obligate-outcrossing, male-female ancestor, it occurs primarily as self-fertilizing hermaphrodites. The reduced selection on male-male competition associated with the origin of hermaphroditism may have permitted the global spread of a loss-of-function mutation with restricted pleiotropy.

    Authors: Michael Palopoli, Matthew Rockman, Aye TinMaung, Camden Ramsay, Stephen Curwen, Andrea Aduna, Jason Laurita, Leonid Kruglyak


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