A novel set of uncoordinated mutants inCaenorhabditis elegansuncovered by cold-sensitive mutations

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Abstract
A set of uncoordinated (Unc) cold-sensitive (cs) mutants was isolated at a stringent condition of 11 °C. About half of the 13 independently isolated cs-Unc mutants were alleles of three X-linked Unc mutants that exhibited the "kinker" phenotype. The remaining four isolates identified new mutants that exhibited "kinker," "coiler," or severe paralytic phenotypes. The temperature-sensitive period (TSP) for each gene was determined. As a homozygous or heterozygous dominant, unc-125 exhibited a TSP throughout all stages of development. Its severe paralysis was immediately observed upon a shift down to 11 °C and reversed upon a shift up to 23 °C. The reversible thermolability of the unc-125 gene product indicated that it may function in a multicomponent process involved in neuro-excitation. Key words : Caenorhabditis elegans, cold-sensitive uncoordinated mutants, cs-Unc.