Radiation-sensitive mutants of Caenorhabditis elegans [Nematodes, ultraviolet, genes, induced mutation]

• Published in: Genetics (Austin) Vol. 102; no. 2; pp. 159 - 178
• Main Authors: Hartman, Philip S, Herman, Robert K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Genetics Soc America 01.10.1982
• Subjects: Alleles; Animals; Caenorhabditis - genetics; Caenorhabditis - radiation effects; Genes, Recessive; Investigations; Mutation; Recombination, Genetic; Ultraviolet Rays
• ISSN: 0016-6731; 1943-2631; 1943-2631
• DOI: 10.1093/genetics/102.2.159

Nine rad (for abnormal radiation sensitivity) mutants hypersensitive to ultraviolet light were isolated in the small nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The mutations are recessive to their wild-type alleles, map to four of the six linkage groups in C. elegans and define nine new games named rad-1 through rad-9. Two of the mutants--rad-1 and rad-2--are very hypersensitive to X rays, and three--rad-2, rad-3 and rad-4--are hypersensitive to methyl methanesulfonate under particular conditions of exposure. The hypersensitivity of these mutants to more than one DNA-damaging agent suggests that they may be abnormal in DNA repair. One mutant--rad-5, a temperature-sensitive sterile mutant--shows an elevated frequency of spontaneous mutation at more than one locus; rad-4, which shows a cold-sensitive embryogenesis, reduces meiotic X-chromosome nondisjunction tenfold and partially suppresses some but not all mutations that increase meiotic X-chromosome nondisjunction; the viability of rad-6 hermaphrodites is half that of rad-6 males at 25 degrees; and newly mature (but not older) rad-8 hermaphrodites produce many inviable embryo progeny. Meiotic recombination frequencies were measured for seven rad mutants and found to be close to normal.